A new survey by realtor Royal Lepage suggests a significant number of Canadians own two or more properties. It further suggests the majority of those people are renting them out, and Millennials are getting in on the action.
The company focused on homeowners in Canada’s three, biggest urban areas – Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver – and found more than 10% of the respondents have more than one property.
The survey also found that nearly two-thirds of those people in Greater Vancouver (65%) and Greater Toronto (64%) collect rental income at least some of the time. In Montreal about one-third (35%) said they are collecting at least some rental income.
A further breakdown shows almost half (49%) of secondary property owners in the GTA have the property strictly for rental purposes. Fifteen percent say they use the property themselves and collect rent some of the time. In Greater Vancouver just over half (51%) use their extra property for rental, with 13% charging rent some of the time. In Montreal, one-quarter (25%) use the property as a full-time rental. Nine percent collect rent some of the time.
The survey also revealed an interesting trend in a red hot market that is deemed to be shutting out younger buyers: the proportion of Millennials that own more than one property tends to outpace Boomers with more than one property.
In both Montreal and Toronto, the percentage of people under age 35 who own a second property exceeds the percentage of people over the age of 35. In Montreal it is 16% compared to 11%. In Toronto it is 18% compared to 11%. In Vancouver it is an even split at 14% for each group.