On Tuesday, Statistics Canada released its latest batch of findings from the 2016 census. One set focused on housing.
Here’s what students need to know:
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Housing unaffordable for one-third of Torontonians
Experts consider housing affordable if a person spends under 30 per cent of their income on total shelter costs. These costs include utilities, mortgage payments, rent, condo fees and other municipal fees.
By the 30 per cent standard, new census data shows that housing is unaffordable for about 24 per cent of Canadian households.
In Toronto, housing is unaffordable for about one-third of households.
It’s harder for millennials to own homes than it was for baby boomers
Statistics Canada also found millennials are slower to get into the housing market than baby boomers were at the same age.
In 1981, about 56 per cent of 30-year-olds who lived in their own homes owned them. In 2016, about 50 per cent of 30-year-olds who lived in their own homes owned them.
Statistics Canada counts millennials as people aged 21 to 35 and baby boomers as people aged 52 to 71.
In August, Statistics Canada reported one-third of Canadians aged 20 to 34 lived with their parents in 2016. In Toronto, that figure sat at 48 per cent.
Overall, the homeownership rate remains consistent
About 68 per cent of Canadians owned homes in 2016, a rate that has remained relatively stable since 2006.
In Toronto, the 2016 homeownership rate was near the national average at about 67 per cent.
Condo ownership increasing
About 13 per cent of Canadians lived in condominiums in 2016, a slight increase from the last census in 2011. Two-thirds of the roughly 1.9 million Canadians who lived in condos owned them.
In Toronto, just over 20 per cent of people lived in condos in 2016.
I'm working as an audio producer at The Ryersonian as part of my fourth year in Ryerson's journalism program.
In Fall 2017, I interned at CBC Radio show Day 6.
I was the business and technology editor at The Eyeopener between May 2016 and May 2017. I've got three-years' worth of bylines at that paper.
Along with Jacob Dubé and Mitchell Thompson, I co-host and produce Radio Free Krypton, a comic book radio show/podcast on CJRU 1280 AM.
