In 2006, Canada’s homeownership rate reached its highest level since 1971, according to date from the 2006 Census. Of the 12.4 million households in Canada, more than 8.5 million, over two-thirds owned their home, the highest rate since 1971. At the same time, the proportion of Canadian households that rented their home slipped from 34 percent in 2001 to 31 percent in 2006. About 3.9 million households rented their home in 2006.

The increase during the five-year period continues the long-term trend in rising homeownership that picked up in 1991 after a period of low growth during the 1980s.

Households in the Atlantic provinces continued to have the highest homeownership rates in the country in 2006. Those in Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest rate, 79 percent. Households in Quebec had the lowest provincial rate at 60 percent.

The median selling price Canadian homeowners would expect to receive for their dwellings rose from $134,240 in 2001 to $200,474 in 2006, a 49 percent increase. Over the same period, consumer prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index increased by 11.3 percent.

More homeowners with a mortgage
Nearly 6 out of every 10 households that owned their home had a mortgage in 2006. Provincially, Alberta had the highest proportion of households with a mortgage (62%) and Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest proportion (45%).

Condominiums driving homeownership
The census counted 913,000 households that owned a condominium in 2006, up 37 percent from five years earlier. The increase in condominium owners during this period accounted for one-quarter of the increase in the number of Canadian households that owned their dwelling.

Rates of condominium ownership were highest in the four British Columbia metropolitan areas. Condo owners accounted for 31 percent of owner households in Vancouver in 2006, 24 percent in Abbotsford, 21 percent in Victoria and 21 percent in Kelowna.

Shelter costs increasing faster than the CPI
For renter households, median annual shelter costs rose by 12.8 percent between 2001 and 2006. Over the same period, consumer prices increased by 11.3 percent. For owner households, spending on shelter increased by 21.6 percent, almost twice the increase in consumer prices.

In 2006, the median annual shelter cost for renter households was $8,057. For owner households with a mortgage, it was $15,150.

Percentage spending 30% or more on shelter edges up
In 2006, an estimated 3.0 million households, or 24.9 percent of the total, spent 30 percent or more of their income on shelter. This was up marginally from 24.1 percent in 2001, but was lower than the high of 26.6 percent in 1996 at the end of the economic downturn experienced in the early 1990s.

Renter households had a higher share of households spending 30% or more on shelter — 40.3 percent in 2006, compared with 39.6 percent in 2001.

Homeowners had a lower share at 17.8 percent of these households in 2006, up from 16.0 percent five years earlier.

4 Jun 2008