BNN Bloomberg says 19% of recent homebuyers already have several properties

According to the recent poll by BNN Bloomberg, almost one-in-five Canadians who bought a property during the pandemic already had several real estate objects. The remaining number is split between first-time homebuyers and upgraders or downsizers.

The survey was conducted online from Jan. 7-9 among 1,547 respondents. The main goal of it was to find out who has been purchasing real estate during the pandemic and how they were funding their down payments.

The poll shows that 9% of those respondents bought a property during the previous 18 months. The main part of the survey focused on them, and found that 40% of this category were first-time homebuyers and the property they bought was their primary residence. Most of them were buyers between the ages of 18-34 (65%), while 11% were between the ages of 35-54. Meanwhile, 24% were 55+.

In addition to it, 39% already owned one property at the moment they were purchasing another one. The survey says 19% owned several properties, while 2% decided not to answer this question.

Almost one-in-five first-time homebuyers (19%) used gifted money from a relative to fund their mortgage down payments.

The most popular source of finances was personal savings (47%), while 24% said they used money from the sale of another property, and 14% used equity from an existing property.

Investors in the real estate could be the first victim of new potential government regulations. There are rumors that government is actively working to increase minimum down payment requirement for non-owner-occupied properties and to prevent use of home equity lines of credit as a downpayment for new investment properties purchases. With today historically low interest rates we are still assisting small investors to leverage their homes to purchase multiple investment properties, however this window of opportunity could be closing soon.