Vancouver residents cite affordability as top reason for buying condos
The Vancouver Sun - May 5, 2009 - Brian Morton - Vancouver residents cited affordability as the top reason for buying a condo at a time when more Canadians are seeing condos as an attractive investment than was the case a year ago, according to a survey released Monday.
TD Canada Trust said 44 per cent of respondents in a survey of urban Canadians said conditions had improved over the last year with regard to the prospects of buying a condo for investment purposes.
That was up from 21 per cent in a similar survey done last year.
The bank said lower prices and mortgage rates are the main reason people are being drawn to condos as a way to make money over the longer term.
"This is a good time to explore a condo purchase given that mortgage rates are very attractive right now and many condos have dropped significantly in price," Joan Dal Bianco, the bank's vice-president of real estate secured lending, said in a statement.
The survey noted that in Vancouver, where housing costs have traditionally been high, 35 per cent of respondents cited affordability as the top reason for purchasing a condo.
That compares with 21 per cent of Canadians in general who cited affordability as the top reason for purchasing a condo.
The survey also noted that 43 per cent of the respondents said if they couldn't afford a condominium right now, they'd consider partnering with a friend or relative to buy one for investment purposes.
But there were other reasons than investing people had for wanting to buy a condo.
The most popular one, cited by 39 per cent of survey takers, was that condos require less maintenance than houses do.
The survey also found that Vancouver residents are more willing to raise a family in a condo (43 per cent), while residents of Montreal and Halifax are least likely to raise a family in a condo (24 per cent and 26 per cent respectively).
The survey, done by Angus Reid Strategies, involved 200 respondents in the cities or surrounding areas of Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax between March 30 and April 7.