As the 2026 federal census is being carried out across the country Statistics Canada has looked back through some past questionnaires and pulled out some enlightening information about Canada’s Millennials.

An intergenerational comparison shows 49.9% of millennials owned their home as of 2021, while 56.2% of Gen Xers did in 2006 and 55.9% of Baby Boomers in 1991. Millennial homeowners were less likely to live in a detached home than previous generations, and Millennials were nearly twice as likely to be living with their parents than Boomers were at the same age – 16.3% compared to 8.2% for the older generation.

For this study StatsCan went through three census cycles, dating back to 1991. The agency looked at Millennials aged 25 to 39 and compared them to Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers, when the previous generations fell into that same age group.

Declining housing affordability for younger Canadians has been a major political and social issue, and Millennials are seen as a key cohort in the important, first-time homebuyer market. An analysis by CBC suggests lower-end homes have increased by more than 200% since 2024, while young, dual-earner household incomes grew 76%.

Affordability is not the sole consideration. StatsCan notes that 39% of racialized millennials born in Canada were living with their parents, while only 14% of Canadian-born, non-racialized and non-Indigenous millennials did the same, suggesting that cultural differences could be a factor. Also, fewer millennials are parents than past generations. But among those who are married with kids, the rate of home ownership was “nearly identical” to baby boomers in 1991.

Published by First National Financial LP

April ended with a busy week of financial news. There were three significant announcements.

The first was the federal government’s Spring Economic Update, delivered on the 28th. It contained a key development in Ottawa’s efforts to get more homes built. Six billion dollars is being committed to get more people into the skilled trades needed in home construction. The funding is designed to bring as many as 100,000 new workers into the building trades by 2031.

Other housing-related announcements in the Update were largely modifications or expansions of existing programs to reduce costs, modernize regulations, and speed-up construction.

Announcements two and three are closely related.

The Bank of Canada held its trend-setting policy rate at 2.25% on April 29th. The hold was widely expected, but the Bank is focusing more on the uncertainty in the global economy as it gives guidance for the future. Generally, the Bank is pointing to the potential for rate hikes if the current spike in oil prices starts to take hold in the longer-term inflation outlook. Market watchers tend to see this as sign that lower rates are unlikely anytime soon.

Statistics Canada’s GDP announcement, which arrived on the 30th, is widely seen as supporting the forecasts for no further rate cuts. First quarter economic growth is tracking at 1.7%, despite trade drama with the U.S. and the American/Israeli war in Iran. That strength is seen as enough to keep the Bank of Canada on the sidelines.

Published by First National Financial LP