Multi-property owners are buying up the most homes in Ontario

Multi-property owners are behind the largest share of Ontario real estate purchases compared to other demographics, according to a new report.

Teranet, Ontario’s exclusive provider of online property searches and registrations, found that multi-property owners bought more homes in 2021 than first-time buyers and buyers who were moving homes across the province.

From January to August of this year, multi-property owners accounted for over 25% of all real estate transactions. First-time homebuyers were responsible for roughly 22% and movers for just 16%. Those who acquired property due to a life event, such as death, marriage, or divorce, accounted for just over 18%.

Interestingly, first-time homebuyers were consistently responsible for the largest share of sales until 2016, which the report points out, was the year the mortgage stress test was first introduced. Since then, multi-property owners have dominated sales.

Historical data from over the past 10 years show how different dynamics in play out in different sub-markets. Toronto, for example, which accounted for 17% of all Ontario property sales from 2011 to 2021, experienced an overall tie between multi-property owners and first-time buyers, with each accounting for a quarter of all sales.

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On the other hand, although experiencing an increase in multi-property owners as many parents began buying housing for their post-secondary student children, Waterloo has consistently been favoured by first-time buyers. Teranet attributes this to the regions’ growing concentration of high-tech companies and job opportunities.

As for who exactly owns these multiple Ontario properties, the largest portion is Gen Xers, who made up just over 32% of all Ontario multi-property owners from January 2020 to August 2021. Millennials accounted for 22%, Baby Boomers for nearly 17%, and mixed households for 26%.