Baby Boomers are not moving out of their homes and that is a problem for millennials and other generations.
Most boomers own their own homes and 67 percent of them are mortgage free. Boomers are living and working longer and although most of them are empty nesters, there is no need for them to go anywhere. This is a factor in the housing shortage.
A couple living in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a yard have worked hard to achieve the Canadian dream and many enjoy tending to their tomatoes and lawns and are still able to look after general home maintenance. The extra unused space is likely used for yearly events where family and friends can enjoy accommodation and hospitality at the family home.
This luxury comes at the expense of new entrants attempting to enter the single-family market because little in the way of that housing is being built in South Delta.
For those who do want to downsize, housing choice is minimal and though living square footage and lot size are decreased by downsizing, the price for a new home is more akin to “sideways sizing.”
The benchmark price for a single-detached home in South Delta is in the $1.5 million range.
Depending on the home configuration, development costs, especially today, are high and those costs contribute to the sticker shock of new homes.
In marketing surveys, the typical ask amongst potential downsizers is for a new three-bedroom and den home (townhome) which, if development costs can be squeezed, can be bought for $1.3 million, plus GST, which doesn’t leave a whole bunch of cash or the ability to pay off a mortgage for the $1.5-million homeowner.
For good or ill, the idea of what home ownership is, an idea that has been woven into our collective psyche for decades, is unravelling.
The yearning for the picket fence is a dream that has been hamstrung by overly lofty expectations.
