Canadians obsessed with real estate, poll suggests

Most Canadians think about real estate on a regular basis, and a good number of them are obsessed with it, an online survey suggests.

That's the takeaway of a recent poll by online home selling firm Zoocasa, where the real estate company commissioned Abacus Data to poll 1,000 Canadians online between June 3 and 6, 2013.

The poll found that 84 per cent of respondents across the country think about real estate on a regular basis, and 85 per cent have gone as far as shopping online for a new home in the past year.

"In ever increasing ways, Canadians seem almost obsessed with real estate. And it’s understandable," Zoocasa president Carolyn Beatty said in a release. "For the vast majority of Canadians, their home is the largest purchase they will make in their lifetime."

Nationally, more than a third — 34 per cent — described either themselves or a loved one as obsessed with real estate. In the Greater Toronto Area, which has the second-highest average home price in the country after Vancouver, the percentage of people who identify themselves as being obsessed jumps to 47 per cent, the highest in the country.

Zoocasa notes that the survey took place during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and just as many people reported talking about real estate on a regular basis as they did about hockey.

Some 28 per cent of respondents say they have gone to an open house at some point in the past 12 months.