For years, we’ve been hearing that the first-time homebuyer is becoming an endangered species.
With home prices where they are, affordability stretched and the cost of living taking a bigger bite out of household budgets, it’s easy to assume that younger buyers simply aren’t able to get into the Ontario housing market anymore.
But some interesting new data from Teranet tells a different story.
In its Q2 2026 Market Insight Report, Teranet took a closer look at first-time homebuyer activity across Ontario. One of the biggest findings? First-time homebuyers are now the largest purchaser group for non-condo properties in the province.
That caught my attention.
It doesn’t mean buying your first home has suddenly become easy. Far from it. What it does suggest is that first-time buyers are finding ways to adapt to a much different housing market.
They still want houses
One thing I found particularly interesting is that affordability pressures haven’t resulted in first-time buyers abandoning houses in favour of condos.
According to Teranet, 70.3% of first-time homebuyer purchases are non-condos.
Where buyers are purchasing, however, tells part of the story. First-time condo purchases remain heavily concentrated in Toronto and the GTA, while non-condo purchases are spread much more widely across areas including Durham, Peel, York, Halton, Waterloo, Hamilton, Simcoe and Ottawa.
In other words, some buyers may be changing where they’re willing to live in order to buy the type of home they want.
That’s something we’ve seen play out in the mortgage business for years. When affordability becomes more challenging, the answer isn’t always to give up on homeownership. Sometimes it means widening the search.
Buying together is increasingly part of the equation
The numbers also show just how important two incomes have become.
Among first-time buyers purchasing non-condo properties, 68.2% had two purchasers on title in 2026. A decade ago, that figure was 55.9%.
That’s a pretty significant shift.
For many buyers today, purchasing a first home isn’t something they’re doing alone. A spouse or partner — and the additional income that comes with them — can make the difference between qualifying and not qualifying.
Interestingly, the picture is somewhat different in the condo market, where solo first-time buyers have actually been making a comeback. Teranet reports that 58.9% of first-time condo purchases in 2026 involved a solo purchaser.
There isn’t one typical first-time buyer anymore.
And then there’s the Bank of Mom and Dad
Perhaps the most intriguing finding in the report concerns buyers who aren’t using mortgage financing at all.
Teranet found that 8.6% of solo first-time buyers purchased without financing. Among first-time buyers aged 25 to 30, 7.6% purchased without financing.
Teranet quite reasonably points out that this could indicate reliance on alternative sources of funding.
We don’t know from the data exactly where that money is coming from. But it isn’t difficult to imagine that family wealth is playing a role in at least some of these purchases.
Family assistance with a down payment isn’t new. But as home prices have increased, conversations about gifted down payments, early inheritances and other forms of family support have become increasingly important for some first-time buyers.
So, are first-time buyers really priced out?
Some certainly are. There is no point pretending otherwise.
But I think the Teranet numbers offer an important counterpoint to the idea that an entire generation has simply been shut out of homeownership.
First-time buyers are still buying.
They’re looking farther afield. They’re purchasing with partners. Some are receiving financial help. Others are starting with condos, while many are still finding ways to purchase houses.
The path to that first home may look different than it did 10 or 20 years ago, but different doesn’t necessarily mean impossible.
And that’s why I always think it’s worth having the conversation before deciding that homeownership is out of reach.
A mortgage professional can help you look at the numbers, understand what you can realistically afford and explore options you may not have considered. Sometimes the answer may be that you need to wait. But sometimes there is a path forward — it just isn’t the one you originally expected.
Source: Teranet, Market Insight Report, Q2 2026: Ontario First-Time Homebuyers
