Poll: Home ownership becoming only for the rich, 4 of 5 readers fear

Some 80 per cent of readers agreed with the statement 'Home ownership in Canada is becoming something only the rich can afford' in an online poll this week.

Perhaps not surprisingly, age is a strong factor. (Notably, there was an unusually high participation rate from readers under 40 in this poll.)

Women were somewhat more inclined to agree than men:

New Democrats and Conservatives are roughly tied as most likely to agree. It's a reminder that while the Conservatives have very successfully made housing affordability a signature issue, the NDP has tried to as well.

Which way is the causality going here? On the surface, it's hard to tell, but it's perfectly reasonable to suggest that people who are very concerned about housing affordability are drawn to parties that have a lot to say about it.

University graduates are least likely to agree:

One debate about housing is whether we should sacrifice farmland to build more. Rather surprisingly, people on either side of that debate are more or less equally likely to worry about housing affordability:

Parents of kids under 18 are much more worried:

In general, people who have a very favourable view of Justin Trudeau are least likely to be concerned about hosing affordability, while the reverse is largely true of Pierre Poilievre:

Responses are closely linked to economic security or insecurity:

And the lowest level of agreement was among people who say that the housing affordability crisis is mostly driven by economic factors beyond the reach of government: