‘Bank of mom and dad’ study: B.C. high earners get housing boost if parents also own

OTTAWA — A Statistics Canada study into what it calls the “bank of mom and dad” shows home ownership among young high earners in British Columbia increases more than anywhere else in Canada if their parents are homeowners, too.

The study also finds that nationally, people born in the 1990s are twice as likely to own a home if their parents are homeowners, compared to those whose parents are not.

That almost triples for people whose parents own more than one property.

The study released Monday concludes that inequality of home ownership appears to be “reproduced across generations,” with parental home ownership bringing their children big financial advantages.

It says people in B.C. earning more than $80,000 enjoyed a 21.3 percentage gain in their ownership rate if their parents owned one or more properties, compared to the lowest gain of 12.7 per cent in Alberta.

The gain increased to 52.9 per cent in B.C. for people in the same income bracket whose parents owned three or more properties.

The study, based on 2021 data, says parental ownership makes the biggest difference in Canada’s most expensive provinces, B.C. and Ontario.

“This may signal that in housing markets with higher property values, where higher incomes are necessary for ownership, parents’ property ownership or wealth plays a larger role in their adult children’s home ownership outcomes,” the study says

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2023.

The Canadian Press