(Montreal) Nearly half (45%) of Quebec tenants say they spend more than 30% of their net income on paying their rent, according to a survey conducted by Hill & Knowlton for Royal LePage.
Posted at 7:13 a.m.
Frédéric Lacroix-Couture
The Canadian Press
As we approach 1er July, the real estate agency surveyed 742 tenants in Quebec, particularly on their intentions to become owners and their desire to save for a down payment.
The survey released Thursday indicates that about 60% of those surveyed do not plan to purchase a property in the next two years.
The reason given for half of them is that they believe they have insufficient income to buy in the neighborhood they want. And 27% argue that renting remains more affordable in the short and medium term.
But the survey highlights that the cost of rent takes up a significant part of the budget for many tenants.
Just under a quarter of respondents say they spend between 31 and 40% of their after-tax income on their rent. For 16% of tenants, this budget item represents between 41 and 50% of their salary, while for 8% of respondents, they devote more than 50% of their income to it.
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada recommends that rent and housing expenses not exceed 35% of a household’s gross income.
According to the survey, just under a third say they use between 21 and 30% of their income for rent, and only 11% of respondents said they allocate less than 20%.
Royal LePage notes that rent prices increased by 35.5% between 2018 and 2023, based on a report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This trend harms tenants’ ability to save for a down payment, underlines the real estate firm.
Turn to a joint purchase
Moreover, among those who responded that they had considered buying rather than renting before signing or renewing their lease, 37% indicated that they did not have a sufficient down payment. This encouraged them to remain tenants.
In an almost similar proportion, waiting for a reduction in property prices (42%) or interest rates (41%) were also cited as factors that motivated the decision to rent rather than own.
“Interest rates have increased, rents have also increased, so it’s difficult to save when you put more than 30% of your net income into housing. [Les locataires] have more parameters than other previous years,” says real estate broker Geneviève Langevin of Royal LePage in an interview.
On the ground, Mme Langevin is increasingly observing members of the same family who decide to come together for a joint purchase such as an intergenerational house.
Sometimes I see a family buying a multiplex; the parents take the ground floor and the children are on other floors. It’s fun because it’s mutual aid and a common budget. So the purchasing power is a little more.
Geneviève Langevin, real estate broker at Royal LePage
Mme Langevin believes that the Canadian charter of tenants’ rights, announced in the last federal budget, will certainly help with access to property. The proposal to count tenants’ monthly rent payments toward their credit score should make it easier, she said.
As part of the survey, renters who said they intended to buy within two years were asked how much they planned to save for a possible purchase.
An equal proportion of people (23%) responded that the percentage envisaged for their down payment, relative to the value of the property, was 5, 10 or 20%, while 17% of respondents said it will be by 20%. Only 8% of participants said it will be more than 20%.
Furthermore, 40% of tenants planning to purchase a property in the next two years believe that they will be able to stay in their current city at the time of purchase. While 36% do not believe they can afford it financially.
The survey was carried out by the firm Hill & Knowlton between June 7 and 10.
