The Big Atlantic Canada Statistics Thread

[Pugsley]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

There is a trend where empty nesters are selling their homes and moving into apartments. Many of them are renting the higher end units, and have enough cash from the sale of their home to help make it easy to pay the rent for the rest of their lives.

I remember Vaughn MacLellan stating that his clients for the Tannery Place apartments were exactly that. Rent a very nice unit, your car is parked inside if you want to go away for a trip, and a lot less responsibility than owning a house in the suburbs.

Do you own a home or rent? I ask because I find a lot of animosity around this issue with people who rent today and are now facing higher rents from people who saved, bought a home back in the day, and are reaping the rewards.

I have empathy for those who are seeing rent increases but it really is a choice made. 20 years ago we scrapped together the basic deposit over a period of 5-years of saving to get a deposit and BUY our first home. We sacrificed a lot to do that. AND, we sacrificed a lot in the first few years thereafter balancing a mortgage payment, knowing we'd be better off owning than renting.

For the record, our first home was in Toronto in 1999 when the variable rate was 5.95% and the fixed rate was 7.50%. Our first home was $400,000 back then. Not a small amount to invest given we were both early in our careers. It was about choices and thinking long-term.

We had friends who chose to rent and spent the money on dinners, trips, and more. Things we didn't get to do. There motto was "live for the day", not tomorrow.

I ask this because I sense a lot of resentment for people based on their choices. We all have them. We shouldn't blame another generation for having different priotities and investing in real estate.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by Pugsley

Do you own a home or rent? I ask because I find a lot of animosity around this issue with people who rent today and are now facing higher rents from people who saved, bought a home back in the day, and are reaping the rewards.

I have empathy for those who are seeing rent increases but it really is a choice made. 20 years ago we scrapped together the basic deposit over a period of 5-years of saving to get a deposit and BUY our first home. We sacrificed a lot to do that. AND, we sacrificed a lot in the first few years thereafter balancing a mortgage payment, knowing we'd be better off owning than renting.

We had friends who chose to rent and spent the money on dinners, trips, and more. Things we didn't get to do. There motto was "live for the day", not tomorrow.

I ask this because I sense a lot of resentment for people based on their choices. We all have them. We shouldn't blame another generation for having different priotities and investing in real estate.

I have no animosity toward anybody around this issue. But I know what you mean - I see a lot of comments on Retail Talk and Share when they're discussing new apartment developments - "another building that nobody can afford to live in." "Rich people getting richer off the backs of us average people" etc.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Does anybody know if StatsCan releases data on how many people total there is born from a province that are still living? Like I’m curious to see how many New Brunswickers or Nova Scotians there is living in the province + other provinces. It would also be interesting to know the break down of province/country on birth for the population currently residing in each province.