Accommodation Issues Feature as Priority on Political Agenda of the Millennials.
There is a no link between what the present generation of home owners’ desire and what is available and affordable.
Only issues like healthcare, jobs, hydro rates and taxes feature before housing in terms of importance for millennial voters, in the opinion of a new Ipsos poll.
The new foreign buyer tax passed by the Ontario government may gain popularity in the eyes of the people but housing remains a major political issue among more than a third of voters, especially first-time purchasers and millennials.
Findings done by the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) showed 37% of the inhabitants of Ontario strongly believe housing affordability belongs on the upcoming provincial election agenda with 30% of the people saying they would be more likely to vote for a party that shows interest in the issue.
About 60% of people who are willing to buy for the first time, many whom would fall within the millennial age group, strongly agreed that, they would likely give their votes to a political party that promotes housing affordability.
Housing was identified by about 28% of millennials as the fifth most significant important issue. According to an Ipsos poll of 2,003 residents, presented with OREA’s Ontario Housing Summit in Toronto on Tuesday, only jobs, healthcare, taxes and hydro rates come ahead of housing.
Tim Hudak, the CEO of OREA said one of the most important topics in the province now is “An affordable place to call home”
Hudak credited the Liberal government’s Fair Housing Plan, which includes a 15% foreign buyer’s tax, with taking “some steam out of the market.”
“The best long-term solution to the issue— housing supply and housing choice should be increased. That way we can make sure millennials will be able to get a place of their own,” said Hudak, former Ontario Progressive Conservative party leader.
About 120 government officials and academics held a meeting whereby they devoted an entire panel to the millennials’ fight to afford a down payment and mortgage, Called “Generation Screwed?” the panel centered on the disconnect between the kind of houses buyers who want to buy homes in Toronto want to purchase and the choices available to entry-level consumers.
At first millennials are happy to be opportune live in high-rises downtown, immediately they make children and desire more space they need to adjust their expectations, said Ben Myers, senior vice-president of Fortress Real Developments.
“That’s one of the things that get people upset,” he said. “They have lived in their parent’s house and their parent bought in a very different market unlike the one present nowadays. Many of them desire that 2,000 sq. ft. single-family home and it is just not available. It is $1 million, $1.5 million and they’re kind of stuck. Maybe they don’t desire to stay in the box in the sky.”
