People are entering the B.C. real estate market in a surprising way
With real estate feeling increasingly out of reach for the average British Columbian, a new survey reveals that over half of the province’s residents said they would consider living in a multi-generational home.
According to RBC’s latest Home Ownership Poll, which surveyed over 1,800 Canadians, B.C. actually has the biggest proportion of respondents who said they’d consider this, at 54 per cent.
Canada-wide, that proportion is 44 per cent.
Given that the cost of B.C. real estate is notoriously high — the average price of a home in August 2026 was almost one million dollars ($924,826) — this news might come as no surprise. The poll found that 40 per cent of B.C. respondents agreed that multi-generational living is becoming more common because of housing affordability, and 28 per cent said that it is a “smart way for families to manage housing costs.”
Nearly 40 per cent of B.C. homeowners said they would be willing to sell their home so that they could buy a multi-gen home with their child and help them get into the real estate market.
The poll also found that 32 per cent of B.C. residents agreed that living with other generations “feels more like a necessity than a choice.”
“Canadians are finding new ways to make one of life’s biggest purchases possible,” said Janet Boyle, RBC’s senior vice president of home equity finance, in a release.
“For many families, it means doing it together by pooling funds to buy a home sooner and sharing costs. What’s easy to overlook is that buying together isn’t just a mortgage decision. It touches everyone’s longer-term financial plans, from future purchases and tax implications to what happens when it’s time to sell or pass the home on. Those conversations are much easier to have at the start, and getting holistic advice can make them simpler.”
If you and family members are considering buying a home together, RBC said that you would apply for a mortgage together as co-borrowers. The lenders would then consider everyone’s income, debts, and credit together, which means that you can borrow more than if you were applying for a mortgage individually.
“Each co-borrower is responsible for the full mortgage, not just their share, and co-borrowers’ names appear on the property’s title,” reads the press release.
RBC advises people to make sure they agree on several items before they apply for a mortgage together, including: who will be on the mortgage and title, how each person’s down payment contribution will be documented, how you will split monthly costs, and what will happen if someone wants to sell or their circumstances change.
B.C. real estate is changing over generations
Home-buying has changed over the generations, with 72 per cent of B.C. respondents saying that it is more complicated to buy a home today than it was for past generations.
The poll also found that residents are “buying later and thinking long term.”
RBC found that, Canada-wide, current owners reported that they bought their first home at age 29 on average. Non-homeowners, however, said they think they will be 41 years old on average before they can get into the market. And a whopping 50 per cent of non-owners said they don’t know when they will buy.
A full 65 per cent also agreed with the statement that “I don’t think past generations can understand the challenges of buying a home today,” and 51 per cent said home buying advice from past generations “is no longer true.”
Further, nearly three-quarters of B.C. respondents said that the idea of a “starter home” has changed, and over half said they’d rather buy a home they can stay in longer than one they might outgrow.
“Buying a home you can stay in longer usually means stretching your budget further, so the math has to work in both directions,” said Brad Evjen, RBC’s senior mortgage specialist. “We look at what a larger purchase does to the monthly payment against what moving up in five years would cost. For some, the bigger first home is the better decision. For others it isn’t, and it’s worth knowing which of those two scenarios fits your situation before you start looking.”
Do you live in a multi-generational house to save on housing costs? Send us an email at vancouver@dailyhive.com and tell us about it!