Buying a Home You Can Stay In: What RBC's Poll Says, and What Lenders Will Ask

What the poll found

The Royal Bank of Canada's latest home ownership poll suggests the traditional "starter home" idea is losing its pull.

According to Canadian Mortgage Trends, 74 per cent of first-time buyers planning to purchase within two years said they would rather buy a home they can stay in longer than one they might outgrow. Among Canadians planning to buy their first or next home within two years, 53 per cent would consider a multi-generational home, compared with 44 per cent of respondents overall and 57 per cent of prospective first-time buyers.

CP24 reported the Ontario cut: about 40 per cent of Ontarians would consider multi-generational living, and about 75 per cent say buying is more complicated than it was for earlier generations.

There is also a gap in expectations. Current owners say they bought their first home at an average age of 29, while non-owners expect to be 41. Half of non-owners do not know when they will buy. As Canadian Mortgage Trends notes, those are respondents' experiences and expectations, not a measured change in the age of first-time buyers.

"A home I can stay in" costs more up front

RBC's own senior mortgage specialist, Brad Evjen, put the tension plainly in the poll coverage: buying a home you can stay in longer usually means stretching your budget further, so the math has to work in both directions.

That is the lender's side of the question. A larger home means a larger mortgage, and the file has to pass the stress test on that bigger number. Our guide to GDS and TDS shows how lenders compare housing costs and total debts against income. Test it first with the calculators, or run a quick check with the pre-qualification tool.

• Plan for the first renewal. In the same poll, 51 per cent of owners renewing within two years said renewal feels almost as stressful as buying their first home, and 42 per cent wish they had planned earlier. Our 120-day renewal window guide covers the timeline.
• Budget the full cost. Closing costs, moving, and maintenance on a larger property are separate from the payment. See cash needed at closing.
• Leave breathing room. A payment that works at today's pricing should still work if your costs or income shift.

Buying with family changes the application

In the poll, 35 per cent of current homeowners said they would sell and buy a multi-generational property with their child to help them get into the market. It is an appealing idea, and an arrangement that needs to be set up properly.

How family is involved matters to a lender. A parent who contributes a gift to your down payment is treated very differently from a parent who is on title and on the mortgage. Each has its own paperwork, and each affects whose income and debts are counted. We explain the mechanics in joint mortgages for first-time buyers and what lenders expect from a gift letter.

How much weight to put on the poll

RBC is a lender with an interest in the housing market, and the poll was an online survey of 1,810 Canadians aged 18 to 64, run by Leger between 5 and 24 August 2026. The coverage we read does not report a margin of error. It is useful for understanding how buyers are thinking, and it is not a forecast of what they will do.

Buyers in the poll were also split on timing. The national write-up has them evenly divided between worrying about buying and then seeing prices fall (50 per cent) and waiting and being priced out (50 per cent). CP24's Ontario figures lean the other way, at 41 and 59 per cent. Neither answers the question that matters for your household: whether the payment works for you.