Demographics will help B.C. enjoy the strongest increase in housing demand in Canada during the next decade, CIBC economist Benjamin Tal predicted in a report last week.
This increased demand “might limit the degree and duration of the projected correction in housing activity in the province,” he said.
Tal explained that immigration would provide most population growth in Canada and that B.C. gets proportionally more immigrants.
He said that there is a significant jump in the home ownership rate among immigrants as they pass the three-year mark in Canada.
After 10 years in Canada, the propensity among immigrants to own a house is higher than among native-born Canadians.
Tal predicts that the aging population will also affect the housing market during the 2012-22 time frame.
When he summed up the change in population growth by age groups and weighted the age groups’ propensity to buy a home, he discovered an annual growth rate in demographically based housing demand.
B.C.’s annual growth rate was above 2% whereas the Canadian average was below 1%.
