Canada's Millennials May Change Real Estate Market Landscape In The Near Future, Market Analyst Suggests

Canada's millenials are growing up and moving to child rearing years becoming a force to be reckoned with.

The Star reports that these millenials may even be bigger than their baby boomer parents when it comes to home buying considering that where they might be residing and how they will affect the real estate market is just beginning to unfold.

Those with ages from age from 15 to 34 and make up about one-quarter of Canada's population and entering the prime of home-buying years are mostly living in Toronto and Vancouver where job availability is a major factor. Those with better jobs have been pusing drive competition for starter condos and single-family homes, The Star continues.

"Affordability will play a huge factor in who buys what," says Dana Senagama, principal GTA market analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. "They're going to be a force to be reckoned with over the next decade, especially as they move into their prime child-rearing years and will need more space."

However, there is a little data on how the millenials will affect the real estate market but a survey is set to be done early this year by Toronto Real Estate Board, which assesses the state of the GTA resale market twice a month.

What is clear, however, is that Millenials are willing to pay huge amount of money to live in a place that offers luxury and work accessibility. It is the reason why builders are shifting to possibly building rental units, with the anticipation that millenials will be renters for life. The average price of a Toronto condo is closing in at $500,000 mark.

"Millennials have much less of an attraction to owning a single-family home and a car. They've got much more of an attraction to a lifestyle and a job," says James Mckellar, director of the real estate and infrastructure program at York University's Schulich School Of Business. "And many of them, especially in the united states, have become skeptical of this notion of a house as an investment."

The Star added that the average price of a resale home in the GTA - condos and single-family homes combined - was $654,221 in November, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board. In York Region, the average resale home price was $807,167 in November. While in Durham, it was $455,603.

Meanwhile, The RedPin.com realty firm took a look at the top Toronto neighbourhoods for millennials to live in and here are the top five. Sources for information were Statistics Canada 2011 census data and Toronto Real Estate Board data as of October 2015.

1. Bay St. corridor: 49 per cent

Median purchase price of one-bedroom condo: $418,328

Median rental price of condo: $1,828

2. Waterfront-downtown entertainment district: 49 per cent

Median purchase price of one-bedroom condo: $360,492

Median rental price of condo: $1,666

3. Niagara St. neighbourhood: 48 per cent

Median purchase price of one-bedroom condo: $341,264

Median rental price of condo: $1,683

4. Church-Yonge corridor near Wellesley: 44 per cent

Median purchase price of one-bedroom condo: $370,339

Median rental price of condo: $1,750