Real estate across Canada

Of all home purchases across the country over the past census period (2001-2006), 6% were newly built homes. Six out of 10 buyers of those new homes were under the age of 45, according to a report by Altus Group economic consultants (altusgroup.com)on the patterns and preferences of new-home buyers. Home buying increased across all age groups compared with the 1990s, while single males accounted for twice the number of single female purchasers. The analysis shows that couples with children are the largest buyer group for new homes (and prefer single detacheds), but single people (who went for condos) and one-parent families are catching up fast. It appears first-time buyers didn't want to stray too far from mom's apron strings, as 54% of them stayed in their own municipality when buying. The number of move-down buyers was roughly equal to move-up buyers. Altus's report also looked at Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending report, which showed that buyers across Canada in 2007 were split fairly evenly between first-time buyers and repeat buyers. The median move-up price increase was 50%. The move-down buyers spent 25% less.

("New Buys" Source: National Post)