More seniors opting to age in home. How could that impact the housing market?

A new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says that although seniors tend to consider downsizing as they age, a large proportion are instead choosing to age in their home rather than put it on the market.

CMHC says the usual increase in renter rates as cohorts age has been occurring later in life and is less pronounced than it used to be.

That could be due to factors such as people living longer, households having more money than their predecessors and relying less on property sales to provide for themselves, and homeowners in urban centres having a wider range of housing to choose from.

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The report says households in Toronto and Vancouver are the most likely to transition to condominiums, while in Montreal, there’s a preference for moving to rental housing.

As Canada looks to create additional housing to bring costs down, the national housing agency says solutions geared toward seniors could include increasing supply from existing units by creating secondary suites or laneway homes.

CMHC says policy makers should monitor trends in the coming decades to see whether aging in place could become more popular with seniors, or whether the recent rise in rental housing starts in various regions across the country encourage more senior households to opt for renting.