April 2021: Canadian public opinion on housing prices

An Angus Reid poll from April 2021. To Have & Have Not: Canadians take sides on housing market, divided in desire for home prices to rise, or tank.

A majority of Canadians think housing prices in their community are too high - 57% in rural areas, 67% in small cities, 70% in urban and suburban areas.

60% of Canadians hope that housing prices stay the same or decline over the next few years (21% hope they stay where they are, 17% hope they fall by 10%, 22% hope they fall by 30% or more). 40% are hoping that housing prices continue to rise over the next few years.

More key findings:

• Those who live in Metro Vancouver, the GTA, Montreal, and Halifax are most likely to say housing prices in their city are unreasonably high; at least 56 per cent in each region say this

• Among those who do not currently own a home, only one-in-five (21%) do not want one. 45 per cent say they would like to but can’t afford it right now, while one-quarter (25%) say they would like to but doubt they’ll ever afford it

• Canadians are overwhelmingly critical of their provincial government’s handling of housing affordability. At least half of residents in every province canvassed say their government has done a poor job on this file