Over Half of Non-Homeowners Expect Never to Buy: What That Changes in BC
A belief about whether you can buy a home usually forms long before anyone runs the actual numbers. It builds from rent cheques, price headlines and a friend's story about getting turned down. A recent national survey found that more than half of Canadians who don't own a home now expect they never will. For many people in British Columbia, that expectation is worth testing against the real math, because the gap between feeling locked out and being locked out is often wider than it looks.
What the market is actually doing
The market has cooled. In CREA's mid-September 2026 report, national home sales were down 6.9% from a year earlier, and the national average sale price for August was up only 0.6% year over year. Slower sales don't make B.C. cheap, and prices here remain high by any historical measure. A calmer market does change the conditions you'd be buying in, though. You get more time to look, more room to negotiate, and less pressure to waive conditions like a home inspection.
The bigger hurdle for most people is qualifying, not the price tag. Under the federal stress test, a lender has to check that you could still make your payments at a rate about two percentage points higher than the one you actually sign for. That test is often what turns a "maybe" into a "no." The good news is that several parts of the qualifying picture are within your control.
Where your options really are
How your income is shown. If you're a contractor, tradesperson or freelancer, your tax return probably shows a lower net income than you really live on. That happens because you claim legitimate business expenses, which is the right thing to do at tax time but works against you on a mortgage application. Many lenders will add certain non-cash expenses, such as depreciation on your truck or equipment, back into your income. They'll also average your last two years of earnings. Some credit unions and specialty lenders go further and work directly with self-employed files. Often the opportunity is to present the income you already earn more clearly, with no need to earn more first.
Your credit habits. Lenders look closely at how much of your available credit you're using. Keeping each card balance under roughly 30% of its limit tends to help your score, sometimes within a couple of billing cycles. It's one of the cheapest improvements available to you.
Tax-sheltered savings. A First Home Savings Account lets you contribute up to $8,000 a year, to a lifetime maximum of $40,000. Your contributions are tax-deductible, and withdrawals for a qualifying first home come out tax-free. You can also pair it with the Home Buyers' Plan, which lets you borrow from your RRSP. Using both, a couple can potentially bring well over $100,000 in tax-advantaged money to a down payment.
Provincial relief on closing. B.C.'s first-time buyer exemption from property transfer tax was expanded in 2024 to cover homes with a fair market value up to $835,000. That can take thousands off the cash you need on closing day. Budget separately for legal fees, inspections and adjustments, which commonly run 1.5% to 3% of the purchase price.
The first rung, not the final home. A townhome or half of a duplex can let you start building equity now instead of waiting for a detached house that may stay out of reach for years. Across the province, and in places like the Comox Valley, that first step is often what makes the second one possible.
What this means for you
The survey describes how people feel, and that feeling is understandable. It doesn't describe what a lender would actually say about your file. Some people who've written off ownership would qualify with a different lender, a clearer income presentation, or a year of focused saving in an FHSA. Others will find that renting longer is the sensible choice for now, and that's a fine answer when it comes from real numbers.
If you'd like to know which group you're in, I can walk through your income, credit and savings with you and show you where you stand today and what would change it. One conversation is usually enough to replace a guess with a plan.
A belief about whether you can buy a home usually forms long before anyone runs the actual numbers. It builds from rent cheques, price headlines and a friend's story about getting turned down. A recent national survey found that more than half of Canadians who don't own a home now expect they never will. For many people in British Columbia, that expectation is worth testing against the real math, because the gap between feeling locked out and being locked out is often wider than it looks.
What the market is actually doing
The market has cooled. In CREA's mid-September 2026 report, national home sales were down 6.9% from a year earlier, and the national average sale price for August was up only 0.6% year over year. Slower sales don't make B.C. cheap, and prices here remain high by any historical measure. A calmer market does change the conditions you'd be buying in, though. You get more time to look, more room to negotiate, and less pressure to waive conditions like a home inspection.
The bigger hurdle for most people is qualifying, not the price tag. Under the federal stress test, a lender has to check that you could still make your payments at a rate about two percentage points higher than the one you actually sign for. That test is often what turns a "maybe" into a "no." The good news is that several parts of the qualifying picture are within your control.
Where your options really are
How your income is shown. If you're a contractor, tradesperson or freelancer, your tax return probably shows a lower net income than you really live on. That happens because you claim legitimate business expenses, which is the right thing to do at tax time but works against you on a mortgage application. Many lenders will add certain non-cash expenses, such as depreciation on your truck or equipment, back into your income. They'll also average your last two years of earnings. Some credit unions and specialty lenders go further and work directly with self-employed files. Often the opportunity is to present the income you already earn more clearly, with no need to earn more first.
Your credit habits. Lenders look closely at how much of your available credit you're using. Keeping each card balance under roughly 30% of its limit tends to help your score, sometimes within a couple of billing cycles. It's one of the cheapest improvements available to you.
Tax-sheltered savings. A First Home Savings Account lets you contribute up to $8,000 a year, to a lifetime maximum of $40,000. Your contributions are tax-deductible, and withdrawals for a qualifying first home come out tax-free. You can also pair it with the Home Buyers' Plan, which lets you borrow from your RRSP. Using both, a couple can potentially bring well over $100,000 in tax-advantaged money to a down payment.
Provincial relief on closing. B.C.'s first-time buyer exemption from property transfer tax was expanded in 2024 to cover homes with a fair market value up to $835,000. That can take thousands off the cash you need on closing day. Budget separately for legal fees, inspections and adjustments, which commonly run 1.5% to 3% of the purchase price.
The first rung, not the final home. A townhome or half of a duplex can let you start building equity now instead of waiting for a detached house that may stay out of reach for years. Across the province, and in places like the Comox Valley, that first step is often what makes the second one possible.
What this means for you
The survey describes how people feel, and that feeling is understandable. It doesn't describe what a lender would actually say about your file. Some people who've written off ownership would qualify with a different lender, a clearer income presentation, or a year of focused saving in an FHSA. Others will find that renting longer is the sensible choice for now, and that's a fine answer when it comes from real numbers.
If you'd like to know which group you're in, I can walk through your income, credit and savings with you and show you where you stand today and what would change it. One conversation is usually enough to replace a guess with a plan.
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