Brittany Barry - Team Coady

• Top factors influencing decisions on whether to have children include financial stability and finding the right partner.
• Nearly nine-in-ten find balancing the emotional and financial demands of parenthood challenging.

The latest BMO Real Financial Progress Index reveals seven-in-ten Gen Z (70%) and Millennials (69%) want to have children but worry doing so would negatively affect their financial security. While 81% of Canadians say being a parent brings joy and fulfillment to their lives, over half (53%) of parents admit having children compromised their financial security.

The BMO survey examines how the financial and emotional challenges related to raising children in the current economic environment are shaping parenting decisions and found:

• Family Defining Decisions: Financial stability (44%) is the top consideration influencing Canadians' decision on whether to have children, followed by finding the right partner (34%), the ability to be fully present for their child(ren) (27%), mental and physical health (24%) and career goals and/or prospects (17%). Over a third (35%) would reconsider their decision not to have children if there was less of a negative effect on their finances.
• Family Size Aspirations: On average, aspiring parents want two children, but that number rises to three if financial constraints are removed.
• Emotional Toll of Parenthood: 89% say balancing the emotional and financial demands of parenthood is challenging and over half (55%) regularly feel overwhelmed by their family's financial responsibilities – a sentiment felt most profoundly among Gen Z (72%) and Millennials (72%).
• Keeping Up with the Jones: Over three quarters (76%) admit there is pressure for parents to keep up with other families by spending more than they should.
• Long-Term Implications: 86% report that everyday childcare costs including daycare, after-school programs, and school supplies, negatively affect their ability to save for long-term goals such as higher education or homeownership.

• Home sales increased by 3.8% from June to July at the national level, the fourth consecutive advance following four monthly contractions.
• On the supply side, new listings remained roughly stable (+0.1%) from June to July.
• Active listings decreased by 0.7%, the second monthly decline in a row as cancelled listings continued to be elevated. Overall, the number of months of inventory (active listings-to-sales) edged down for the third month in a row from 4.6 in June to 4.4 in July.
• Market conditions tightened during the month but remained balanced compared to the historical average. The balanced market conditions at the national level largely reflect soft conditions in Ontario and B.C., while markets in all other provinces continue to favour sellers.
• Housing starts increased by 10.6K from 283.5K in June to 294.1K in July (seasonally adjusted and annualized) after being roughly stable over the past two months. Starts were well above the consensus expectation of 265.0K. Starts increased in urban areas (+12.4K to 273.6K), while they declined in rural areas (-1.9K to 20.5K). In urban centres, starts in the multi-unit segment increased (+12.4K to 231.1K) while they remained roughly stable in the single-detached segment (+0.2K to 42.5K).
• The Teranet–National Bank Composite National House Price Index decreased by 0.8% from June to July, after adjusting for seasonal effects. Seven of the 11 CMAs included in the index experienced decreases: Hamilton (-2.5%), Winnipeg (-1.2%), Toronto (-1.1%), Vancouver (-0.7%), Calgary (-0.5%), Montreal (-0.5%) and Edmonton (-0.1%). Conversely, prices rose in Quebec City (+1.3%), Ottawa-Gatineau (+0.3%) and Victoria (+0.1%), while they remained stable in Halifax.

The number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems climbed 3.8% on a month-over-month basis in July 2025. Building on gains recorded over the previous three months, transactions are now up a cumulative 11.2% since March.

The July increase in home sales was again led overwhelmingly by the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), where transactions, while still historically low, have now rebounded a cumulative 35.5% since March.

“With sales posting a fourth consecutive increase in July, and almost 4% at that, the long-anticipated post-inflation crisis pickup in housing seems to have finally arrived,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Senior Economist. “Looking ahead a little bit, it will be interesting to see how buyers react to the burst of new supply that typically shows up in the first half of September.”

July Highlights:

• National home sales were up 3.8% month-over-month.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 6.6% above July 2024.
• The number of newly listed properties was unchanged (+0.1%) on a month-over-month basis.
• The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) was unchanged month-over-month and was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis.
• The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average sale price edged up 0.6% on a year-over-year basis.