Quebec Homebuyers Set Sights on Larger Homes

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Quebec Homebuyers Set Sights on Larger Homes
Montreal, March 8--Residents of Quebec who plan to purchase a home within the next two years are more likely than all Canadians to purchase a bigger house (56 per cent). Nationally, 46 per cent of homebuyers intend to purchase a bigger home. The Royal Bank 12th Annual Homeownership survey shows Quebec has the lowest percentage of current homeowners (58 per cent) and the highest percentage of current renters (41 per cent). Potential homebuyers in Quebec prefer to purchase resale homes (64 per cent) to newly built homes (28 per cent). The average market value of their home according to Quebecers is $169,821. Furthermore, 81 per cent of people living in Quebec believe buying a home is a good investment. "The low cost of borrowing, flexible payment plans and current economic market conditions are increasing the amount of would be homeowners in Quebec," said Danielle Coutlée, manager, Sales Support, PFS. "Overwhelmingly, we are seeing that Quebecers are buying bigger homes and investing in their future." The housing industry is a key economic driver in Canada with existing homes, home building, buying, renovations and mortgage expenditures representing an estimated record $1.7 trillion in 2004. The sale of homes is an important economic indicator and consumer confidence barometer and the RBC survey indicates that 2005 should be another banner year. Fifty-six per cent of homeowners in Quebec currently have a mortgage on their home and will take, on average, 12 years to pay off their mortgage. In addition, mortgage holders in Quebec owe the least amount ($79,437) on their mortgages in comparison to all Canadians who owe an average of $109,504. On average, homeowners in Quebec say their houses have increased in value by 20 per cent over the last two years and 10 per cent say their house has increased in value by over 50 per cent. These are some of the findings of an RBC Financial Group poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid between January 18 and 24, 2005. The telephone survey is based on a randomly selected representative sample of 2,001 adult Canadians.