(Toronto) Economists at the Royal Bank of Canada say the number of renters in the country has reached record levels, with their number growing three times faster than homeownership over the past decade.
According to a report by Deputy Chief Economist Robert Hogue and Economist Rachel Battaglia, two-thirds of Canadian households will own their homes in 2021, but the number of Canadian renters has grown even faster.
An analysis of Census data shows that nearly five million households rented the home they lived in last year, up from 4.1 million ten years ago.
Millennials born between 1981 and 1996 are fueling some of the rental growth, economists say, because their homeownership rates are lower than previous generations at the same age and they face higher home prices than their predecessors.
Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are also playing a role, overtaking millennials as the fastest-growing group of renters in the past decade.
Economists predict that this growing demand will put “enormous” pressure on the country’s rental housing stock and that meeting these needs will require a concerted effort by policymakers, developers and builders.
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