The most affluent generation in Canadian history isn’t convinced that it needs to downsize. Even baby boomers who expect to move to a smaller home in the next five years are waiting for the kids to leave and casting about for more affordable accommodation in their retirement years.Meantime the boomers, the cohort born between 1946 and 1964, is renovating rather than moving. Boomers are also helping the next generation step on the property ladder by allowing adult children to live at home longer to save and even helping to finance their home purchases.A Leger online survey of 1,000 baby boomers, nevertheless, suggests the postwar generation is set to have a huge impact on the Canadian housing market with 1.4 million, 17 per cent, expecting to buy or sell property by 2023.But more than half — 52 per cent — say they won’t be downsizing their accommodation, according to the research for Royal LePage.Ontario boomers had the highest expectation of downsizing in the country with 49 per cent of respondents expected to buy smaller, compared to 41 per cent nationally. One in five respondents in Ontario said they would be buying a new home within the next five years. While 56 per cent of Canadian boomers indicated they can’t afford retirement in their own neighbourhood, that rose to 63 per cent in Ontario with 40 per cent saying they would be willing to move to a new city or suburb in search of more affordable housing. A third said they would consider moving more than an hour from their current home.Read more:Home sales and prices rise in Toronto region for a second straight monthToronto-area condo sales cool as fewer developments launchedCan cottagers keep Ontario’s lake regions afloat? The survey findings demonstrate that baby boomers, who are now between 54 and 72, won’t be buttonholed into a particular kind of home although a significant number — 32 per cent — are looking to move into condos, said Royal LePage CEO P ...
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