Women And Home Ownership Poll
An Ipsos-Reid poll commissioned by TD Bank Financial Group provides new insights into the home purchases made by individual Canadian women.
Calgary, AB - An Ipsos-Reid poll commissioned by TD Bank Financial Group provides new insights into the home purchases made by individual Canadian women. The January poll queried Canadian women who are aged 20 to 45, own a home and made this purchase without a spouse or common law partner.
The study shows that both financial and personal factors underlie the home purchases made by Canadian women in this category. When asked why they purchased a home as an individual, the financial reasons given included thinking it was a good investment (71%), not wanting to spend money on rent anymore (61%) and wanting to get into the housing market (54%). For many, however, financial reasons alone were not the only driver of their decision to purchase a home. Fully 51% of the answers given to this question cited being independent and having control of their life as a reason for making the home purchase.
The poll shows that the average age at which these women made their first home purchase was 29. Eight-in-ten are single (82%) and do not have children (80%), while one-half (49%) have a university degree. Eighty-one percent have purchased one home as an individual and two-thirds (66%) of women in the category have bought their property within the past five years.
The study also investigated the type of housing purchased by Canadian women age 20 to 45 who are buying on their own. Condominiums (42%) are popular among women in the category followed by houses (34%), townhouses (13%) and duplexes (6%).
Vancouver and Toronto are the biggest condominium markets. Three-quarters (73%) of Vancouver female homeowners and one-half (52%) of Toronto female homeowners purchased a condo. Condos and houses have similar levels of appeal to individual women buyers in Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal. In Calgary and Edmonton, 31% purchased a condo and 33% chose to buy a house. In Montreal, 35% bought a condo and 41% purchased a house. In Prairie and Atlantic cities, however, houses are the top choice (64% Prairies, 57% Atlantic).
When it comes to selection criteria, cost and location / neighbourhood are the top two decision factors across all types of homes (70% cost, 65% location). Cost is cited as a factor significantly more often by condo buyers than house purchasers (77% vs. 57%), as is low or no maintenance (50% vs. 8%). Conversely, significantly more house purchasers mention wanting a yard (48% vs. 1% of condo buyers) and home size (42% vs. 33%) as decision factors.
The poll also reveals that more than three-quarters (77%) of women who bought a home on their own say affordability/financial commitment was their biggest worry prior to purchase, while half (51%) cited assuming the responsibilities of a homeowner such as maintenance and legal responsibilities as a major concern.
No single element strongly emerged as the best part of home ownership for women in this category. When asked what they like best about owning a home the most frequent replies were financial security/investing in my future (23%), having a place of my own (22%), being independent/having control (18%) and being able to do as I please with the space (14%).
Maintenance and costs, on the other hand, were identified as the worst aspects of home ownership by Canadian women in this category. When asked what they like least about home ownership, 30% of respondents referred to maintenance related issues, 18% mentioned costs generally and 9% referred specifically to mortgage payments, taxes and condo fees.
Among these homeowners, the top choices for renovations would be the kitchen (35%) or bathroom (23%). When asked why they would sell their home, the two most frequent replies were to trade up to a better home (50%) and to get more space (41%). Interestingly, selling to cash in on home appreciation (28%) was also mentioned less frequently than changing to different type of home (37%), moving (33%) and getting married (29%).
These are the findings of an online Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of TD Bank Financial Group and fielded between the dates of January 3rd and 13th 2007. For the survey, a total of 713 online interviews with Canadian women homeowners aged 20 to 45 were conducted through a customized online survey. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population of Canada been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure that the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to 2006 Census data.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Paul Lauzon
SVP, Managing Director
Ipsos Reid West
587-952-4871
paul.lauzon@ipsos.com
About Ipsos Reid
Ipsos Reid is Canada's market intelligence leader, the country's leading provider of public opinion research, and research partner for loyalty and forecasting and modelling insights. With operations in eight cities, Ipsos Reid employs more than 600 research professionals and support staff in Canada. The company has the biggest network of telephone call centres in the country, as well as the largest pre-recruited household and online panels. Ipsos Reid's marketing research and public affairs practices offer the premier suite of research vehicles in Canada, all of which provide clients with actionable and relevant information. Staffed with seasoned research consultants with extensive industry-specific backgrounds, Ipsos Reid offers syndicated information or custom solutions across key sectors of the Canadian economy, including consumer packaged goods, financial services, automotive, retail, and technology & telecommunications. Ipsos Reid is an Ipsos company, a leading global survey-based market research group.
To learn more, please visit www.ipsos.ca.
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