TORONTO, Feb. 24, 2020
/PRNewswire/ -- For residents of Canada's largest city, Toronto, it is no secret that the housing
market presents challenges. According to a recent Zillow and Ipsos
survey, Torontonians confidence in their ability to own the home
they want is on the decline due to rising home prices. For buyers,
77% are concerned they can't afford the home they want, up four
points from 2018. More than two thirds (68%) of sellers are
concerned they can afford the home they want, an increase from 55%
in 2018.
Toronto is also the city most
likely to be perceived to be in a housing bubble. More than eight
in 10 (84%) of Torontonians think that the Toronto housing market is in a bubble, with
inflated housing prices, and at risk for a correction. This
perception drops significantly amongst Torontonians for other
Canadian cities with 61% for Vancouver and far fewer thinking Victoria (18%), Montreal (13%), Ottawa (10%), Whistler (9%), Calgary (8%), or Edmonton (6%) are experiencing housing
bubbles.
Nearly all Torontonians (94%) identified barriers to owning a
home. Toronto residents report a
number of things that concerned them in the home buying process --
the most common among them is coming up with a down payment (66%).
Other barriers cited include high monthly mortgage payments (61%),
qualifying for a mortgage (56%), debt (49%) and lack of job
security (44%).
Despite perceived barriers in the Toronto market, many Torontonians (83%) still
value home ownership as a good investment, an increase from 79% in
2018. This is stronger than the national average of 76%.
Navigating a challenging market may be why many Torontonians
consult real estate professionals as part of their searching,
shopping or purchasing journey. More than nine in ten sellers (91%)
and 86% of buyers consulted a real estate agent or broker. The
challenges may also contribute to Torontonians taking more private
home tours than Vancouver
residents, an average of 6.1 tours compared to 4.5 tours for
Vancouver shoppers.
This all could also contribute to a longer home search for
Toronto residents. Nearly four in
ten (39%) spend four months or more searching for a new home, with
seven percent spending one year or more.
About the Study
These are some of the findings of an
Ipsos poll conducted between September 24
and October 8, 2019, on behalf of Zillow. For this survey, a
sample of 1,503 Canadians aged 18+ (including 821 Toronto CMA
residents) was interviewed online via the Ipsos I-Say panel. Quota
sampling and weighting were employed to balance demographics to
ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult
population according to Census data and to provide results intended
to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online
polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the
poll is accurate to within ±2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of
20, had all Canadian adults been polled. Results from the Toronto
CMA sample are accurate to within ±3.9 percentage points, 19 times
out of 20. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of
the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to
other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage
error, and measurement error.
About Zillow
Zillow® is transforming how people buy,
sell, rent and finance homes by creating seamless real estate
transactions for today's on-demand consumer. Zillow is the leading
real estate and rental marketplace and a trusted source for data,
inspiration and knowledge among both consumers and real estate
professionals.
Zillow's proprietary data, technology and industry partnerships
put Zillow at nearly every major point of the home shopping
experience, helping consumers search for and get into their new
home faster. Zillow now offers a fully integrated home shopping
experience that includes access to for sale and rental listings,
Zillow Offers®, which provides a new, hassle-free way to buy and
sell eligible homes directly through Zillow; and Zillow Home Loans,
Zillow's affiliated lender that provides an easy way to receive
mortgage pre-approvals and financing. Zillow Premier Agent
instantly connects buyers and sellers with its network of real
estate professionals to help guide them through the home shopping
process. For renters, Zillow's innovations are streamlining the way
people search, tour, apply and pay rent for leased properties.
In addition to Zillow.com, Zillow operates the most popular
suite of mobile real estate apps, with more than two dozen apps
across all major platforms. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and
operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z and ZG) and headquartered
in Seattle.
Zillow and Zillow Offers are registered trademarks of Zillow,
Inc.
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SOURCE Zillow