Who is the typical first-time home buyer in Canada and how much money do they need?

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Zlatkin said that with townhouses and semi-detached homes in the GTA starting at at least $800,000, buyers in the area need about $200,000 in income to qualify for these homes.

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Toronto residents are also reckoning with a higher cost-of-living in general in the expensive metro, Zlatkin said. “They need to be very strong buyers. … (They) need to be able to support both their lifestyle and (their) mortgage payments.”

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According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the average home price in Canada was $707,380 as of April. Average home prices were just below $1 million in Ontario and British Columbia but hovered between $300,000 to $400,000 in the Atlantic provinces and Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

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The majority of first-time buyers were married or common law (71 per cent) and were employed (91 per cent), reported CMHC.

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“It is harder and harder to purchase (when you’re) single,” said Remi Korent, broker at Rock Solid Mortgages, licensed with Quantus Mortgage Solutions, who is based in Calgary. “A lot of people rent until they buy, or they buy when they have kids.”

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More than half of first-time buyers were in households with children and 64 per cent rented (for an average of 6.3 years) before purchasing their home, according to CMHC.

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But Denise MacDonell, managing associate broker at Red Door Realty in Halifax, has seen more single women in their thirties or early forties enter the housing market lately as well.

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“I think that shift mirrors a demographic of women getting married later (or) staying single … women doing better professionally (and) not waiting to be partnered (to buy a home),” MacDonell said.

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CHMC data also showed 54 per cent of first-time buyers purchased with an adult other than their partner or spouse, with younger respondents (aged 18 to 24) most likely to do so. Quebec reported the most first-time buyers taking this route.

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Broady said he has seen this trend in Montreal. He has seen siblings and even friends team up to purchase property together, while others are buying and rooming with their parents, especially parents who want to downsize into smaller homes.

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How are first-time homebuyers coming up with a down payment?

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CMHC reported major sources contributing to the down payment included savings outside of a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) at 39 per cent and savings from within a first home savings account (FHSA) at 38 per cent.

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However, the “biggest, most frequent source is the gift,” said Sabrina Guay, a specialist at CMHC. More than 40 per cent of first-time buyers received cash gifts to purchase their home, with the average gift amounting to $74,570.

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Guay said this too varies across provinces, with buyers in pricier provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia being more likely to rely on gifts, while buyers in the Prairie provinces depended on their savings.

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The average gift amount ranged from $43,086 in the Prairies to as high as $142,812 in B.C.

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Adil Dinani with Royal LePage West Real Estate Services in Vancouver, said incomes haven’t kept up with real estate prices, so parents are stepping in to help.

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“Forty per cent of our first-time buyers are getting some sort of supplement to their down payment through family,” Dinani said. “They’re not able to independently make the purchase, typically.”

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The CMHC survey revealed a marked increase in the number of first-time buyers living with their families or friends before purchasing their homes, at 35 per cent this year, compared with 28 per cent last year.