OTTAWA: Recent immigrants to Canada are increasingly becoming homeowners, transitioning into the housing market at a faster rate than previous cohorts despite soaring property prices and ongoing affordability challenges. According to fresh data released by Statistics Canada, homeownership rates among newcomers experienced a notable rise between 2018 and 2021. Conversely, the rate of homeownership among Canadian-born individuals saw a steady decline during the exact same period.
The comprehensive study examined the five-year homeownership trajectories of immigrants admitted as permanent residents between 2017 and 2021 across seven Canadian provinces. The findings highlight a prominent shifting trend, particularly in Ontario. In that province, the homeownership rate among immigrants in their fifth year of residency climbed from 35.7 per cent in 2018 to 40.2 per cent in 2021. Meanwhile, the homeownership rate among Canadian-born residents aged 25 to 54 dropped from 50.7 per cent to 47.8 per cent.
The agency’s report emphasized that time spent in the country remains a critical factor for financial integration. The vast majority of newcomers initially start their journey as renters, using the first few years to build credit history, accumulate wealth, and boost their annual earnings before purchasing a property. By the fifth year after their arrival, immigrants under the economic class category recorded homeownership rates that closely approached those of Canadian-born citizens. In British Columbia, for instance, economic immigrants achieved a 40.1 per cent ownership rate, compared to 43.3 per cent among the Canadian-born population.
Significant regional variations were also observed across the country, largely driven by local housing costs. Newcomers settling in Manitoba and the Maritime provinces achieved homeownership rates comparable to native-born Canadians. However, recent immigrants in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta continue to lag behind local benchmarks, heavily reflecting the staggering real estate prices in those specific provincial markets. Furthermore, the data showed that over 85 per cent of immigrants who purchased homes within their first year as permanent residents had already lived in Canada previously as international students, temporary foreign workers, or asylum seekers.
The trajectory toward buying property varied distinctly by immigration stream and region of birth. Economic-class permanent residents recorded the highest rates of homeownership, followed by family-sponsored individuals, while refugees registered the lowest. Geographically, immigrants originating from East Asia demonstrated some of the highest levels of property ownership in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.
Despite successfully entering the housing market, many recent immigrant buyers face heightened financial vulnerability. The report noted that first-time immigrant homebuyers generally earned lower median incomes than Canadian-born buyers but purchased significantly more expensive properties. In British Columbia, the median purchase price for recent immigrants reached $660,000, outstripping the $580,000 median spent by Canadian-born buyers. To manage this gap, many newcomers rely heavily on larger mortgages and aggressively prioritize building home equity over retirement planning, resulting in considerably fewer contributions to Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) during their home-purchasing year. As a result, they remain highly exposed to real estate market fluctuations and interest rate spikes
