Vice Canada spoke with retired U of G real estate professor Jane Londerville about why there remains a “cult of home ownership” in Canada in which young adults are made to believe that home ownership is an expected rite of passage.

The article notes that home ownership rates for young Canadians are higher than they have been in decades but that is leaving thousands of millennials in deep debt. Londerville commented that many millennials mistakenly believe that homeownership is a sound investment and that house prices only rise because that is all they have ever witnessed in their lifetimes.

Londerville taught at U of G between 1993 and 2012, conducting research in mortgage finance and helping to build the real estate and housing bachelor of commerce curriculum.