# Vancouver boomers are sitting on $163 billion of mortage-free property

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2014-05-20

architect-this-city, atc, baby-boomers, downsize, equity, first-time-buyers, generation-y, housing-market, lateral-move, middle-age, millennials, real-estate, rennie-marketing-systems, rightsize, uncategorized, vancouver

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Continuing with [our discussion of Vancouver](http://brandondonnelly.com/post/86134147808/the-future-of-vancouvers-west-end), I was reading today that [baby boomers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomers) in the metro area (those aged 55 and older) are estimated to be [holding over $163 billion of clear title property](http://www.biv.com/article/20140516/BIV0111/140519936/-1/BIV/wealth-transfer-to-generation-y-key-to-understanding-future-real). That is, homes without any mortgage. This figure comes from [Rennie Marketing Systems](http://www.rennie.com/) out of Vancouver.

What’s interesting about this number is that it signals both a lot of equity that could be used for downsizing, rightsizing and lateral moves into a condo, and a source of capital for millennials to buy their first home. In fact, according to a survey that Rennie Marketing also conducted, somewhere around 40% of first time buyers in Vancouver are getting deposit help from their parents and/or grandparents.

But the question that comes to my mind is: Are there going to be enough middle aged people willing and able to buy $163 billion worth of real estate? Because one person’s sale is another person’s buy.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/vancouver-boomers-are-sitting-on-dollar163-billion-of-mortage-free-property)*