Parents of millennials may be helping to skew housing prices

Many young adults are now relying on the bank of mom and dad to help them get keys to their own homes. As part of Project Money, we look at the effects of baby boomer parents contributing to the mortgages of their millennial children.

Amanda Cupido greets visitors to her new home, a downtown Toronto condo. If it weren't for a gift from her parents, it might have been a long time before she could have laid out the welcome mat.

I own this condo...This would have been really hard to pull off it wasn't for my parents.Amanda Cupido

Amanda is one of many young adults relying on help from their parents to afford a home. And The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation wants to know if this trend is helping skew the housing market.

Laura Parsons works as a mortgage expert with Bank of Montreal. She also helped her son and daughter purchase their first homes, and says that her situation is common.

"A lot of parents are feeling that it's time to get their kids into home ownership...Our recent survey said that 30 per cent of first time buyers are expecting their parents to assist in that down payment". Laura Parsons

Rob Carrick isn't surprised millennials are getting help from their parents to buy expensive homes or condos. In fact, he says it's perfectly in line with the tight financial relationship many Canadian young adults have with their folks.

It's become a lot more prevalent today because prices are so expensive and down payments are steep...A lot of these people can't even afford to rent an apartment, nevermind buying a house.Rob Carrick

• Laura Parsons helped her two kids buy their first homes, and is a mortgage expert with BMO in Calgary.
• Rob Carrick is a personal finance columnist at the Globe and Mail and author of How Not to Move Back in With Your Parents: The Young Person's Guide to Financial Empowerment.

Have you received help from your parents to buy your first home? Or are you the parent who helped out?

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This segment was produced by The Current's Sarah Grant, Shannon Higgins and Elizabeth Hoath.