When considering a potential partner, Canadian millennials find shared property aspirations more important than looks, according to a new survey.
Beyond the Bricks, an annual HSBC-sponsored survey meant to explore attitudes toward homeownership, found that the majority of millennials (61%) feel anxious about buying a home – so much so that shared financial (39%) or property (33%) goals were more important for them than looks.
Most millennials (63%) said that financial considerations drove their last home move. The top two reasons were getting more home for their money (26%) or a lower cost of living (23%). Meanwhile, their biggest source of tension was accepting money from parents for the purchase (14%).
HSBC was not surprised that more than half of millennials feel overwhelmed about buying a home compared to one in five baby boomers. The applications, land surveys, fees, and contracts associated with the mortgage process itself were the biggest source of tension for all age groups in Canada (25%), although it was most pronounced for millennials (33%), the study said.
“The anxiety millennials (and others) feel is justified,” said Barry Gollom, HSBC Bank Canada’s senior vice president of retail banking and wealth management products and propositions. “Close to 70% of Canadians own their home, but less than 30% do so without a mortgage.”
That anxiety doesn’t end when the deal closes. To be able to afford their new home, Canadians were more likely to cut back on daily spending (30%) or major expenditures such as car purchases and luxury items (29%) and/or curtail their social life than their global peers.
