First Time Buyers Into The Fray

I mentioned the phenomenal number of first-time buyers who've called me since the beginning of the year. It seems it might be a trend.
Phil Soper, CEO of Brookfield Real Estate Services, says factors like historically low mortgage rates and declining prices in many parts of Canada, are luring newbies back into the housing hunt. This is a reversal of the recent market trend which saw sales fueled by downsizing baby boomers.
Now the babies of the baby boomers could step up in big numbers. They're an interesting bunch, as Soper pointed out at the Scotiabank Real Estate Outlook Forum in Toronto today.
Generation Next, now in their 20s and 30s, were raised in homes where both parents worked. Today's first-time buyers tend to be self-reliant, tech-savvy and able to do their own research. They will use all the on-line tools at their disposal to suss out neighborhoods, prices and services before making an informed housing choice.
In recent years, first-timers have been pushed to the sidelines but they might just what we need to put a little spark into the market.
(Brookfield owns the Royal LePage and La Capitale banners, by the way, so you know Phil Soper has a finger on the industry pulse.)