{"id":25336,"date":"2025-02-12T10:10:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T18:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/?p=25336"},"modified":"2025-02-12T09:20:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T17:20:47","slug":"uphill-battle-to-own-for-missing-middle-buyers-in-the-lower-mainland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2025\/02\/uphill-battle-to-own-for-missing-middle-buyers-in-the-lower-mainland\/","title":{"rendered":"Uphill Battle to Own for &#8220;Missing-Middle&#8221; Buyers in The Lower Mainland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It\u2019s a dream that may elude people in the Lower Mainland for a lifetime \u2014 the dream of home ownership.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A new report from RE\/MAX released Tuesday finds there are several obstacles in the way with few solutions to help get people into a real estate market that is wildly expensive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Christopher Alexander, the president of RE\/MAX Canada, says the odds are stacked against would-be first-time buyers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIt is contributing to the decline in home ownership in Canada,\u201d he told 1130 NewsRadio. \u201cHomeownership in Canada peaked at about 69% back in 2011 and 10 years later, we\u2019ve declined by just over two-and-a-half per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He explains one of the main culprits is a lack of affordable options.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIn 1971, we were able to build 45,000 units of affordable units, and it took 25 years almost, from 1995 to 2019, to build the same number,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Alexander believes the requirements to enter the market should ease up as interest rates slowly stabilize.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cYou have the stress test in place, you have exorbitant development charges and fees, and prices are still really high, especially in Metro Vancouver. And all those factors combined, make it really difficult to enter the market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He points out it\u2019s difficult even for people with high incomes to buy a home, especially in a region that continues to see population growth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIf you don\u2019t have equity already and you haven\u2019t been in the market, the barrier for entry, especially in Ontario and British Columbia, is very high. You need to be making a very high monthly salary to be able to afford the payments on a mortgage,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cFor a lot of banks and lending institutions, you need 20% down and when you\u2019re average sale price is around $1.1 million, that\u2019s $211,000 that you need to come up with just to have a downpayment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For so long the term \u201cmissing middle\u201d was thrown around plenty when discussing housing in the Lower Mainland. Alexander acknowledges it\u2019s an increasingly challenging balance for everyone to find a place that fits their budget.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cYou have a geographical challenge as well, with the ocean [and] mountains. It is difficult to build the right type of units, but I think what we\u2019ve been seeing is there are too many of the same units being built \u2014 small, entry-level condominiums and not enough affordable units that have a different layout where people can actually raise a family. It\u2019s really hard to do that in 500 sq. ft.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ownership is just one issue highlighted in the report. The cycle of renting is also difficult to break.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cAffordable rentals are few and far between, and those renters fortunate to live in these units are unwilling and unable in some cases to move, presenting a conundrum to the market. Much of the housing stock available in the city and suburbs consists of either detached homes or condominiums. The attached home is the missing middle here. Demand for these types of homes is strong, yet the category represented just 20% of the overall market in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Alexander is calling on all three levels of government to nail down a cohesive plan on housing, instead of each pushing their own individual agenda.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vancouver.citynews.ca\/2025\/02\/11\/lower-mainland-first-time-home-buyers-challenges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Re\/Max : First-Time Home Buyers Face Uphill Battle to Own in The Lower Mainland<\/a> by Sonia Aslam | City News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a dream that may elude people in the Lower Mainland for a lifetime \u2014 the dream of home ownership. A new report from RE\/MAX released Tuesday finds there are &hellip; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2025\/02\/uphill-battle-to-own-for-missing-middle-buyers-in-the-lower-mainland\/\">read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-updates","category-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Uphill Battle to Own for &quot;Missing-Middle&quot; Buyers in The Lower Mainland &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2025\/02\/uphill-battle-to-own-for-missing-middle-buyers-in-the-lower-mainland\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Uphill Battle to Own for &quot;Missing-Middle&quot; Buyers in The Lower Mainland &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"It\u2019s a dream that may elude people in the Lower Mainland for a lifetime \u2014 the dream of home ownership. 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