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Vancouver Real Estate Buoyed By Inheritance Transfers: Study

Inheritances, Bigger Budgets Help 1st-Time Home Buyers
Sotheby's Int'l Realty

Baby boomers coming into almost $1 trillion in inheritance will bolster Vancouver's real estate market as they downsize and help their millennial children buy their own homes, says a new report.

The transfer of wealth over the next two decades will be an important influence on Canada's housing market, said Sotheby's International Realty Canada's Housing and Economic Outlook, released on Tuesday.

"According to the latest figures, Canadian baby boomers make up 42.4 per cent of the population and will individually average $56,000 in inherited capital," it stated.

"An inheritance is an opportunity to assist their millennial generation children with down payments to enter the real estate market, particularly in major urban centres such as Vancouver where housing affordability is an ongoing concern."

The cash influx could also trigger a decision to change homes, downsize, or renovate/upgrade their existing space, the report pointed out.

Sotheby's findings come as a Bank of Montreal report on first-time home buyers says the average budget has increased to $316,100.

That's up nearly six per cent from an average of $300,000 in last year's report on first-time home buyers.

The BMO study says a sample of prospective buyers in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary had even higher budgets for their first home.

With files from The Canadian Press

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