Eighty-six per cent of Canadians believe purchasing a home is a good investment and one in four are likely to do so in the next two years, according to RBC Royal Bank’s 10th Annual Homeownership Survey.

“The number of people planning to buy is almost identical to last year, while the number of people who see their homes as good investments has been increasing steadily since 1999,” said Ildi Dereza, national manager for consumer markets, RBC Royal Bank.

Home building, buying and renovation expenditures topped an estimated $70 billion in 2002, when a new record was set for the country’s housing market. Based on this year’s survey, last year’s record pace should continue in 2003. The RBC/Ipsos-Reid study was conducted in late November 2002.

According to the survey, 25% of Canadians are likely to buy a home within the next two years and 11% plan to purchase within the next six months. Regionally, purchase intentions are greatest in Alberta (34%) and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (29%). This is followed by British Columbia and Ontario (both 24%), Quebec (22%), and Atlantic Canada (21%).

As for who is most likely to get into the housing market, 18-to-34 year olds lead the pack. This youngest group is strongly determined with intentions up a resounding 11 points over last year (39% versus 28%). Home buying plans among older demographics remain consistent with last year.

“This increasing desire of younger Canadians to enter the housing market speaks further to the conviction that purchasing a home is a good investment,” said Dereza.

Younger and middle aged homeowners are more likely than older Canadian homeowners to have a mortgage. Younger and middle aged homeowners are also likely to start with higher original mortgages (younger $101,055; middle aged $104,335) and have a higher average amount left to pay (younger $80,926; middle aged $70,125). Their older counterparts are likely to have an average original mortgage of $69,391 with $47,259 left owing.

The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,536 adults. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled.