While the TD Canada Trust 2012 Condo Poll (a survey we talked about just this morning) showed some interesting results about how Canadians think condo living is worth the fees that come along with it, there’s one area of the country that’s not falling under the condo’s spell – and that’s Atlantic Canada. While condo Calgary mortgages and Ottawa mortgages might make up a large percentage in these cities, the same just isn’t true in the Maritimes. And Farhaneh Haque, TD’s Director of Mortgage Advice, says that the drop in condo popularity is for several reasons.
The bank’s survey found that nationally, 38% of first-time homebuyers would consider, or are considering, purchasing a condo as their first home. However out East, that percentage drops to just 29% who said the same thing. However, even with those considering a condo purchase, only 7% of first-time homebuyers in Atlantic Canada intended to buy, or have already purchased, a condo; that’s significantly lower than the national average of 18%.
So why the huge difference between Atlantic Canada and the rest of the country when it comes to condominiums? “The condominium lifestyle is more accepted in major Canadian centres like Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto, where condominiums are more widely available,” says Harque. “There are proportionately fewer condominiums available in Atlantic Canadian centres, and this is a factor.”
But this doesn’t mean that Atlantic Canadians are sitting around pining for condos that they can’t have, simply because of a lack of supply. Truthfully, the poll results indicating that Atlantic Canadians don’t want condominiums are probably due to the fact that condos simply aren’t as necessary out on the East coast as they are throughout the rest of the country. In areas like Toronto or Ottawa, one could spend a large portion of their day commuting, adding to inconvenience and stress in their life. While condos solve that problem, it’s not so much of an issue in the Maritimes.
“Commuting in the Halifax area has not yet become as tiresome or economically challenging as it has in other Canadian centres, where getting back and forth to work can gobble up two to three hours out of each workday,” says Haque. Haque also pointed to the fact that the lacking popularity of condos in the East isn’t something that’s likely to change any time soon – currently, the East is about 10 years behind the rest of the country when it comes to condo demand. “This is a significant difference,” she says.
The TD Canada Trust poll was an online survey conducted from January 23 to February 2 and polled 1,453 Canadians.
