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First-Time Home Buyers In Canada Aren't Tapping Mom And Dad Like We Thought

How many of us actually are?
AP

It's a common refrain among Canadians looking into buy a home for the first time: they need to tap the "Bank of Mom and Dad."

But precisely how many of us are doing that is not clear.

A report by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) suggests fewer of us are tapping that source than other studies have suggested.

It found that 18 per cent of first-time buyers in the past two years financed a down payment using money that relatives loaned or gifted to them.

That number is on the rise. It was 13 per cent in CAAMP's November report.

But it's also a far cry from a number BMO cited in April.

The bank's 2015 Home Buying Report said that 42 per cent of respondents expected parents or relatives to help them buy their first home, while 40 per cent said they couldn't complete a purchase without that assistance.

CAAMP came up with its numbers by surveying around 800 Canadians who bought homes in the past two years, while BMO spoke with just over 2,000 people.

CAAMP also found that first-timers made up 45 per cent of home buyers from January 2013 to May 2015, the time period covered by its report.

"There is intense interest in the Canadian housing market, especially from first-time buyers," CAAMP president Jim Murphy said in a news release.

But the report didn't just cite family assistance as a source of financial help for down payments. Ten per cent of respondents said they used money from their RRSPs, while five per cent took cash from Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSA).

People buying their first homes spent an average of $318,000, while the average down payment was $67,000, according to CAAMP.

Approximately half of first-time buyers had a household income of less than $80,000, while one-third of them brought in $100,000 or more.

Most bought detached homes (47 per cent), while 22 per cent bought condos.

Most first-timers wanted to buy because they hoped to stop renting (51 per cent), while 32 per cent did it for the "pride of ownership," CAAMP said.

Check out CAAMP's findings around Canadian home buying in the following infographic:

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