Parents gifting $82,000 on average to first-time homebuyers: CIBC

As home prices surge to new heights, data from CIBC show parents are giving more and more money to their children so they can buy their first home.

As home prices surge to new heights, data from CIBC show parents are giving more and more money to their children so they can buy their first home. 

Benjamin Tal, CIBC’s deputy chief economist, estimates that among the nearly one-third of first-time home buyers who turn to the so-called Bank of Mom and Dad, a record $82,000 is currently being gifted on average, compared with $52,000 in 2015.

Tal also said that number is higher in the country’s red hot markets – with the average gift topping $130,000 for Toronto families and $180,000 for those in Vancouver. 

“No less than two-thirds of first-time buyers that received a gift indicated that the gift was the primary source of their down payment,” Tal wrote in a report for clients Monday. 

While this is not a new phenomenon, Tal said the share of first-time homebuyers who received a financial gift rose to nearly 30 per cent over the past year – a roughly 10 percentage point jump from 2015.