It’s hard for Vanshika Dhawan not to think of the $1,400 a month she pays for her half of a shared two-bedroom apartment at Bloor and Church as wasted.“It’s partially because I was raised to believe that renting was throwing money away. It extends from my parents’ generation,” says the 22-year-old grad student. “There’s no investment involved in renting.”But at the same time, saddled with student debt and spending so much on rent, she knows she can’t afford a down payment on anything in Toronto.“It really isn’t a choice,” she said.A new survey from real estate company Zoocasa found almost half of respondents across Canada feel like rent is a waste of money (46 per cent), despite the fact many find themselves unable to buy, caught in a Catch-22 between high rents and impossible home prices in an increasingly unaffordable market.“We’re in a situation now, especially in Toronto and Vancouver,” where rent is so high, “that it doesn’t really make as much sense to stay renting if you don’t have to,” said Penelope Graham, managing editor at Zoocasa.The survey results show Canadians still view home ownership more favourably, as it contributes to equity, “whereas rent is very much viewed as a sunk cost,” she said. At the same time, more people are forced to stay in the rental market for longer because buying is out of reach.In Toronto the average detached home costs about $1.3 million, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board, while the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is now over $2,000, say figures from market research firm Urbanation.That leaves people like 27-year-old Fahd Pasha, who always saw owning a home as part of the “Canadian dream,” out of luck.He’d like to buy something with his partner, and not just be making his landlord money. But even though they’re both working full time, it seems impossible.R ...
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