Most non-homeowners in Calgary can’t see themselves ever owning a home: poll

As the cost of housing continues to rise in Calgary, the majority of Calgarians who aren’t homeowners say they don’t ever see themselves owning a home in this city.

A new Maru Public Opinion poll for CityNews finds 74 per cent of residents say homeownership is simply not attainable in Calgary. Among that group, about 46 per cent say they very much agree with that statement, while the remaining somewhat identify with it.

While renters struggle to afford to buy a home, rising rental prices are also making it hard to stay in their existing units.

The poll finds the top three reasons renters say rent prices have gone up are due to interest rate costs being passed down to them, price gouging, and not enough units available.

But is it all doom and gloom for renters? Not quite, according to Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist with the Calgary Real Estate Board.

“Calgary traditionally did not have a lot of purpose-built rentals,” says Lurie. “For years when we saw apartment-style starts, it was your typical condo-style apartment.”

“Now we are seeing a bit of a shift that has been happening over the past couple years where we are seeing more rental product being constructed, not just apartment-style condos.”

Those new units aren’t coming quick enough, says one homebuilder.

“We don’t have the proportional number of homes we should have for a city of our size, largely because of growth we’ve seen over the last couple of years,” says Trico Homes CEO Michael Brown.

He says builders are willing to build, but they need the land for it.

“We need to free up more land, we are constraining our growth towards the edges.”

The poll shows homeowners they are seeing the price of homes go up, with the cost of materials being named as the number one reason behind that increase.

But as some wait to one day own a home, other families are banding together to enter the housing market.

“A lot of our buyers are multi-generational families,” says Jurate Perminaite, Alberta sales manager with Anthem Properties. “We are seeing elderly parents living with their kids.”

“We are designing our homes and our plans to reflect that. We will have main floor bathrooms and full bedrooms so that elderly parents don’t have to take stairs.”

Another recent survey for CityNews found 80 per cent of Calgarians say they are having trouble making ends meet with groceries, housing and utilities being the most worrying price tags.

The good news for everyone: Canada’s inflation rate is down to two per cent, falling from a high of eight per cent two years ago.

Mortgage rates are also being cut, a start to much-needed relief for roughly four-in-10 Albertans struggling to pay for housing.

With files from Sean Amato