Katy Parker, 27, is a first time home buyer who is counting down the days until she's done with apartment living for good.
There are just 30 days until her newly purchased home closes.
"We suspected that interest rates [were] going up,” Parker said.
“So a big part of that is that we still want to be able to afford our home even when interest rates go up, so we wanted to be well within that budget,” she said.
Parker, who is a banker, and her partner purchased a home in the Village of Gagetown, about 40 minutes outside the city of Fredericton.
According to a recent survey, 46 per cent of first-time homebuyers in Atlantic Canada purchased a home in a more affordable neighbourhood or region than they had originally planned.
That survey also said the amount of homebuyers concerned about an insufficient down payment is up to 67 per cent..
"The interest rates that mortgage companies put out have a lot to do with it,” said Fredericton-based real estate agent Jeremy Dearing about the survey’s findings.
“As well, what you were getting for a mortgage a few years ago has become almost twice that much now, so it definitely has impacted the buying power for buyers in this market,” Dearing said.
"Because we've seen the home prices going up for such a long time, people are kind of understanding now that home prices are going to go back down 20 or 30 per cent,” said Will Campbell, a Halifax-based real estate agent.
The survey found that 35 per cent of first-time homebuyers nationwide say they received financial assistance in a lump sum payment from their parents or relatives toward the purchase of a home.
And 37 per cent received financial support as a loan that is to be repaid.
"Almost half of my clients that are first time home buyers are getting help from their parents,” Campbell said.
“It's normal to help with the down payment because that seems to be the hardest thing for young people and first time homebuyers to come up with,” he said.
A quarter of first-time buyers surveyed said they received financial help with their monthly mortgage payments.
“I would tell my mom or someone in my life, especially someone a little bit older, my mom’s about 62 years old, so she’s like oh that’s way over what you should be paying,” Parker said.
“But we want a house now and that’s what the market is right now,” she said.
Parker said for her, it’s important to live within their means and save their own down payment.
“I wanted something within our budget,” she said.
“I’m a banker, so something affordable while being able to save for other activities was really important, we travel a lot now and we want to still be able to do those things when we have a home.”
