Aging Canadians Will Help Drive Growth in Condo Market

Excerpt from CMHC - Canadian Housing Observer 2010

The vanguard of the large baby boom generation—the generation born in Canada during the two decades (1946-65) after World War II—is on the verge of becoming senior citizens.  The aging of Canada’s population will spur continued growth of condominiums, which more than tripled their share of the home ownership market over the past quarter century.

For young people, condominiums offer low maintenance burdens and the possibility of living near work and central attractions. These attributes, especially ease of upkeep, also appeal to empty-nesters and seniors.

Young adults and those aged 50 or older both favour apartment condominiums over other types. For seniors, this preference grows stronger as they age. Apartments are perhaps the easiest type of housing for occupants to maintain, and have the added attraction for older Canadians (at least in buildings equipped with elevators) of minimizing contact with stairs. For aging seniors, problems with vision, frailty, and balance can make climbing stairs a difficult and even dangerous activity.

Canadians of all ages are considerably more likely to choose to own and live in condominiums today than
just a decade ago.

From young to old, all birth cohorts had significantly higher rates of condominium ownership in 2006 than the same age groups five and ten years previously. The rise in age-specific condominium ownership rates, not the aging of baby boomers, accounts for the bulk of recent condominium growth in Canada.

If condominium ownership rates at each age had remained fixed between 1996 and 2006, the growth in condominiums would have been only about a quarter of the growth that actually took place.