Putting Price Tags on the Future By Emily Ricahard

The Drive magazine in partnership with Libro Credit Union is challenging Grade 12 students to write an essay focused on their day-to-day lives. Once a school is selected, the top five articles chosen by the teacher are further reviewed by our editorial team and the winner receives a $500 RESP from Libro Credit Union, along with publication of the essay in our issue. Congratulations to Emily Richard for being our June winner! We are proud of all the participants and will continue to support our community through continued literacy and a path to higher education.

Putting Price Tags on the Future

Emily Richard

The idea of a dream home has taken on a new meaning for my generation. It is no longer about the size or specific aspects of a house, but the fact that we could own a house at all. As the housing prices in Canada continue to climb, the generation of first-time homebuyers is being forced to face the fact that owning a home could be a mere fantasy. Work needs to be done to fix this; otherwise, these high purchasing rates will prevent us from ever being able to become homeowners. With the concerns over the housing market, our generation is entering a future dictated by prices and payments.

As the current generation of teenagers enter adulthood, we are not being met with the excitement of their newfound independence that many previous generations had. Instead, we are stuck wondering how we will reach typical life milestones. With the average house in Canada now costing over $800,000, and Ontario prices being even higher, the timeline for this generation to become firsttime homebuyers is set back. This delay causes a domino effect to occur, and many people will also have to postpone other major life plans, such as starting a family. Then there are the expenses that come with this family, limiting the number of homes that can operate with a single income. This is just one of the many other expenses that need to be paid. On top of a mortgage, my generation will need to pay for their education, insurance, and daily living fees, which have all increased over the years. These difficulties that the youth are expected to experience will likely have a major impact on our mental health. The futures and dreams that we have been encouraged to anticipate now seem impossible to accomplish. Students must work for hours a day to save for their futures while juggling school, social lives, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The lasting effects of the endeavour to purchase a home have created a system where our generation cannot reach major life accomplishments as easily as our predecessors.

When deciding how to correct issues like these, it is usually beneficial to consider what has not worked and start from a different perspective. To start, the seemingly obvious answer of building more houses does nothing for first-time homebuyers when people continue to purchase them at inflated prices. The other option of having the banks slowly increase interest rates does work, in theory; however, the time it takes to do so only adds to an already evident delay. So, without these possibilities, another place to start would be to approach the issue from directly where it starts; the house prices themselves. If the government were to implement a fixed rate on homes based on a specific aspect, like size, then purchasers would be much more likely to find a home within their budget. This could also limit the use of “bully offers”, which cause homes to be purchased for more than they are worth and, in doing so, make the situation worse. Another possible approach would be to lessen the amount that people must pay upfront on their mortgage. With some houses selling for over $1 million, buyers are expected to pay 20% of this for their down payment. Progress could be made by recognizing that young adults cannot easily reach these payment expectations. Approaching the issue from the first home payments could give the youth a chance at purchasing a home.

The rising housing prices are causing our futures to be seen through how much it will cost instead of what we plan to accomplish. We are being forced to rethink our plans to compensate for the financial struggles that have been left for us to face. Unless these housing prices are fixed, this issue will only continue to grow, furthering this system in which the upcoming generation is set to fail. The current housing market has become a roadblock that prevents us from being able to gain the title of homeowner, creating a future in which the idea of having a home is an impossible dream. D

Works Cited

“Canadian Housing Market Report Jun. 16th, 2022: Interactive Map.” Canadian Housing Market News, WOWA, 16 June 2022, https://wowa.ca/reports/canada-housing-market. Government of Canada, 28 June 2021, https://canada.ca/ en/financial-consumer-agency/services/mortgages/down-payment.html.