Property, finances more important than potential partner's attractiveness: survey

Jul 25 2019, 12:36 am

When it comes to what Canadian millennials are looking for in a potential partner, a new study has found they are more likely to choose someone who has similar home-buying and financial goals, over how attractive they are.

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The findings come from Beyond the Bricks – an annual HSBC-sponsored survey which is meant to explore the attitudes towards homeownership.

The study found that the majority of Canadian millennials (61%) feel anxious about buying a property – so much so that shared financial (39%) or property (33%) goals were more important than looks.

However, that attitude has a downside, as well.

The study found that 16% of survey respondents had stayed in a bad relationship due to property.

Other findings from the survey included:

  • The majority of Canadian millennials (62.8%) said financial considerations drove their last house move.
  •  The top two reasons were getting more house for their money (25.5%), or a lower cost of living (23.4%).
  • The biggest source of tension was accepting money from parents for the purchase (14%).

Those behind the study said “it’s not surprising” that over half of all millennials feel overwhelmed about buying a property compared to one-in-five baby boomers.

“The applications, land surveys, fees, and contracts associated with the mortgage process itself were the biggest source of tension for all age groups in Canada (25%) although this was most pronounced for millennials (33%),” the study found.

“The anxiety millennials (and others) feel is justified,” said HSBC’s Barry Gollom. “Close to 70% of Canadians own their home but less than 30% do so without a mortgage.”

And that anxiety doesn’t end when the deal closes.

In order to afford their new home, Canadians were more likely than their global peers to cut back on day to day spending (30%), major expenditures like car purchases and luxury items (29%) and/or curtail their social life, the study found.

Daily Hive StaffDaily Hive Staff

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