Housing in Canada

8 in 10 young Canadians want to own a home – but the system isn't built to let them.

Despite 80% of Canadians aged 18 through 44 saying they want to own a home, the homeownership rate for those aged 25–39 has fallen to just 49.9% — a relative decline of nearly 11% since baby boomers were the same age. This generation is now Canada's largest demographic cohort, and they should be entering the ownership market. We know they aren't.

The issue isn't simply a shortage of supply , — it's a shortage of the right kind of supply. Federal policy has treated affordability as a math equation, adding units without enough regard for whether they reflect how Canadians actually live. The result is a market dominated by two extremes: luxury and micro-unit condos at one end, purpose-built rental and deeply affordable housing at the other. What's been crowded out is the “missing middle” — the townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, and small multiplexes that have historically served as the primary pathway to attainable homeownership for working Canadians.

REALTORS® represent Canada's more than 155,000 real estate professionals, and the home buyers, sellers, renters, and owners they work with in every communitiesy from coast to coast to coast. Our members consistently hear is that Canadians are not giving up on ownership, — in fact, nearly half of first-time buyers say they will purchase a smaller home just to enter the market.

What young Canadians need is a market with attainable options to meet them there.

CREA's pre-budget submission calls for a renewed National Housing Strategy 2.0, a mandate for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) next era of reinvention, a smarter Mortgage Loan Insurance (MLI) Select toolkit aimed at missing middle supply, and better housing data to guide the decade ahead. Canada has the institutions, the tools, and the moment — what's missing is the mandate.

2026 Pre-Budget Consultation