For many young Canadians, the traditional financial roadmap of saving for a down payment and buying a home is being tossed aside. With property ownership feeling increasingly out of reach, a significant demographic shift is occurring as Generation Z rewrites the rules, choosing to invest in experiences like travel instead of real estate.
The New Financial Milestone: Passports Over Property
Wendy, a 25-year-old data analyst based in Ottawa, exemplifies this trend. She is actively saving for a two-week trip to the United Kingdom next year, where she plans to visit a friend, see the sights, enjoy a West End show, and experience a traditional English tea. For her, this goal feels tangible and rewarding.
"It’s really important to experience these things when you’re young now," said Wendy, whose last name was withheld for privacy regarding her finances. In contrast, saving for a down payment with her partner ranks at the very bottom of her financial priorities.
"We’re currently renting in a neighbourhood that’s pretty nice, and we probably couldn’t afford a home in it," she explained. "Paying for a mortgage for 30-plus years doesn’t seem like something I want to put on my plate."
Wendy is far from alone. According to a recent survey by FP Canada, about 43 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 34 say they prioritize travel as a key money milestone. This figure surpasses the 38 per cent who are focused on buying a home and the 34 per cent saving for retirement, marking a profound departure from the financial priorities of their parents' generation.
Recalibrating Goals in an Unaffordable Market
Experts point to the daunting reality of Canada's housing market as the primary catalyst for this change. Home prices soared after the COVID-19 pandemic, with the non-seasonally adjusted national average price peaking at $816,720 in February 2022, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). While prices have moderated since, the national average sat at $690,195 as of October 2025—still approximately 30 per cent higher than six years prior.
This landscape has led many young adults to simply give up on the dream of ownership. Steve Pomeroy, a housing policy research consultant and adjunct professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, noted that in his 2023 graduate class, none of the students believed they would ever afford a home, and a third stated they didn't want to.
"They had basically given up on that," Pomeroy said. "They felt that the cost and the sacrifices associated with homeownership were too high relative to their other priorities, and they felt that renting for a long-term option was perfectly acceptable."
The Psychology of Attainable Goals
This pivot from a seemingly impossible long-term goal to more immediate pleasures is a rational psychological response, according to Sam Maglio, a professor of marketing at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management.
Travel represents a goal that is achievable in a shorter timeframe and requires less capital to fund compared to a six-figure down payment. "(Younger Canadians) are recalibrating their priorities for something more (immediate)," Maglio said. "If the really big goal seems too distant, too big, too impossible to achieve, (they’re challenging themselves) to achieve a goal (they can) actually hit."
The result is a generation forging a new financial identity. Where previous milestones were measured in square footage and equity, many in Gen Z are now measuring their financial success in passport stamps and lifelong memories, choosing fulfilment and experience over the burden of a mortgage they see as both unattainable and undesirable.
