{"id":109830,"date":"2025-08-31T13:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T13:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/109830\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T13:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T13:36:09","slug":"for-renters-saving-for-down-payments-is-a-struggle-unless-they-have-help-from-their-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/109830\/","title":{"rendered":"For renters, saving for down payments is a struggle \u2013 unless they have help from their parents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Brenna Casta\u00f1o says she would love to buy a house, but it feels like a lofty goal without financial help from family.Shannon VanRaes\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Brenna Casta\u00f1o, 37, lived at home until her 30s and managed to save about $14,000 in that time. But in the five years she\u2019s been renting, she\u2019s only added about $2,000 to her savings. She cites slow wage growth and high food costs as some of the reasons she struggles to put money away. <\/p>\n

\u201cHeaven forbid you want to eat healthy or buy a strawberry,\u201d says the Winnipeg dental assistant.<\/p>\n

She would love to buy a house, but it feels like a lofty goal, especially since she doesn\u2019t expect financial help from her family. She figures they\u2019d need about $35,000 cash to buy a $400,000 house, accounting for a 5 per cent down payment and the various closing and moving costs. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping a house will come into our lives, hopefully in the next five years, but it puts us over 40,\u201d says Ms. Casta\u00f1o of herself and her partner. <\/p>\n

While home ownership feels far away for Ms. Casta\u00f1o, she\u2019s actually ahead of the curve for renters her age when it comes to savings. <\/p>\n

Statistics Canada figures<\/a> released in March show the median renting family under age 35 held $12,000 in liquid assets, which it defines as money in bank accounts, term deposits, treasury bills, tax-free savings accounts, stocks, bonds, and registered retirement savings plans. The median for all renting households under 45 is only $600 more.<\/p>\n

That makes a down payment out of reach for many renters in most Canadian cities, where home ownership is increasingly the domain of people who have support from their families, says the Statscan report, titled \u201cFamilial support in entering the Canadian housing market.\u201d <\/p>\n

Another report released in July, the MNP Consumer Debt Index<\/a>, found 26 per cent of Canadians are \u201chaving to put their life on hold\u201d because of high costs.<\/p>\n

Statscan warns that being unable to buy a home can have a ripple effect for future generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOwning a home has long been critical for wealth accumulation, particularly among younger households and middle-class families,\u201d the report says. \u201cAs the likelihood of homeownership becomes more dependent on intrafamily transfers, it may hinder socioeconomic mobility, particularly for those in vulnerable population groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Casta\u00f1o at her Winnipeg apartment on August 29, 2025. March Statistics Canada figures show the median renting family under age 35 held $12,000 in liquid assets.Shannon VanRaes\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Diana Petramala, an economics consultant and instructor of housing economics and policy at Toronto Metropolitan University, says it\u2019s no surprise that renters can\u2019t save: They tend to make much less money than homeowners and spend, on average, 110 per cent of their income<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey obviously have to spend a lot more of their income to achieve a similar quality of life of other households,\u201d Ms. Petramala said. \u201cIf they\u2019re continuously spending higher than they earn, they\u2019re probably taking on debt that comes with higher rates of interest<\/a>. It contributes to an inability to save.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wage growth has been slower for renters than it has been for homeowners, she said, referring to Statscan data showing that average household income went up by $26,000 between 2014 and 2024 but that average income for renters only went up by $22,000 in the same time period.<\/p>\n

She believes this growing gap, and the lack of access to stable, affordable housing that stems from it, are likely to have long-term, negative societal consequences. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing we can give a person for their well-being long-term is a stable home,\u201d Ms. Petramala said.<\/p>\n

This private investor wants to own a piece of your house<\/a><\/p>\n

Families who don\u2019t own their own homes lack access to affordable credit that helps many build wealth or pay for education, she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to borrow off your home to send your kids to school is good for the economy and for your family\u2019s future economic well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davelle Morrison, a broker with Bosley Real Estate in Toronto, says that when it comes to the first-time buyers she sees, couples with parental support are the norm, adding that she recently worked with clients who had three parents contributing money.<\/p>\n

With average home prices in Toronto at $1,051,719 as of July<\/a>, it\u2019s hard to imagine young people buying without \u201cthe bank of mom and dad,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I am at an open house and can\u2019t believe the age of the kids walking around looking at these expensive houses. First-time buyers, buying houses for $900,000 or $1-million \u2013 if people don\u2019t have parental support they just can\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Brenna Casta\u00f1o says she would love to buy a house, but it feels…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,133,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,131,132,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-109830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-finance","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}