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Toronto Baby Boomers - Using homes as their pension.

Toronto Baby Boomers - Using homes as their pension.

BY Christopher Bowron – Broker of Record

This blog post is in reference to Tamsin McMahon’s article in The Globe in Mail – Retirees scaling back their housing costs – but not their lifestyles. Published Nov, 09, 2015

Tamsin has been writing this week about how the baby boomers and their lifestyle decisions might affect the Canadian economy over the next 15 years.
The jest of the article relates to how Torontonians in their fifties and sixties are counting on the escalating real estate prices to in effect, create a pension for them. Many baby boomers do not have a company pension to count on for their retirement, claim the mis sold pensions specialists at Goodwin Barrett. The situation is quite different in Australia, where those who can afford a comfortable living prefer, for instance the ones like retirement village adelaide.

Many of these potential retirees are as Tamsin states:

“Downsizing for the Goodwin’s has meant scaling back on their housing costs, not their square footage.” Many of these future retirees have a vision of buying something larger as they move out of the cramped confines of the big city. There is a perception that boomers want to move into high rise and low rise condos and town homes because they are used to it. Developers have had to scramble to meet the demand.

I have noticed this shift. The majority of the cliental we deal with at Niagara on the Lake Realty seem to be looking for a decent sized lot, with “room to move” after living in the big city. Bungalows are at a premium. Buyers want to spend a great deal less than what they attained for their Toronto (GTA) property, and put the rest in the bank, while maintaining a lifestyle, possibly improving it. Why shouldn’t they.

Developments like “The Village”, in Niagara on the lake and “Evergreen Estates”, Gatta Homes, offer a good blend of new, town homes and detached homes. The “Old Town, while more pricy, still affords the retiree a break in the pocketbook compared to (GTA) pricing. The villages of Virgil and St. David’s offer even better value.

The biggest problem we are facing as realtors is lack of inventory. Our current market could possibly be one of the best sellers markets I’ve seen in my 27 years in real estate. So, if you are thinking of selling, now is the time!

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