About a month ago, I watched the movie Crazy Rich Asians in theatres; I wouldn’t be surprised if you did as well given all of the buzz surrounding this movie. I was told by many fellow Asians to “support” the movie. Of course, I’m not here to write about my opinion on the movie (because that’s what movie critics are for), but I do want to highlight the conversations of cultural significance with the Asian ethnicity that was sparked by this movie. More specifically, I wanted to shed light on the Asian cultural significance of real estate.
Success Measured by Real Estate – Generally speaking, there is a reason why Asians are more aggressive with real estate, be it for investing or for personal home ownership. Believe it or not, it plays a significant role in the Asian culture. Owning real estate is seen as “making it” in our culture (I say “our” because I’m Chinese). If you tell Chinese aunties and uncles that you rent a place, more often than not, they’ll think less highly of you. True story.
I can tell you for certain that I have seen traditional Chinese buyers extend themselves further financially in order to afford a larger home than the average buyer with a western mindset. It is ingrained in the Chinese culture that real estate is a good investment and that it’s okay to be a little house poor.
Full Disclosure – Real estate is so important that it even matters in the dating world! It matters so much that on this Chinese dating website, whether you own real estate is publicly disclosed. If you’re really curious, click on the image below to see a screenshot of this dating website that I speak of.
Yes, that is a legitimate Chinese dating website. When I saw this website, I was 100% amused and literally laughed out loud. It’s completely ridiculous but at the same time, I’d imagine it’s quite effective.
Culturally, all of the important questions you would ask someone on a first date are already provided. Some of these questions such as income may seem like a private thing that you wouldn’t dare to ask nor share, but in the traditional Chinese culture, it’s quite common to ask someone what they make (I get it all the time from my family back home in China, so nosy!).
What’s the Point? Well, after having a good laugh with the fiancée about the situation of Chinese online dating, it immediately dawned upon me that…
“HOLY CRAP this information is basically a goldmine for determining ownership to income”.
Breaking It All Down – So I immediately opened my Excel spreadsheet and started crunching away at the numbers like a real nerd! The following is what I arrived at:
- Total sample size was 1,888 (the Chinese superstition is real with all those 8’s!)
- 50% of the people on the list does not own any real estate
- 18% or 340 people owned condos, while 32% or 611 people owned houses
Now here are even more interesting, interpretive stats:
- Those who did not own real estate had an average income of $43,655
- Condo owners had an average income of $60,353
- House owners had an average income of $83,879
Assessing Averages – Hopefully, that helps to shed some light on the type of income bracket you need to be at in Toronto to own real estate. Those average income numbers sound about right for average home ownership in Toronto, for both condos and houses. It’s incredibly difficult to own any kind of real estate in the GTA with an income of approximately $43,000, which is the average income in Toronto. There are a lot of other variables at play when it comes to real estate ownership, but with a sample size this large, those resulting averages provide a good basis. Those numbers align quite well with what I have been seeing in the past year for people who are single.
The Wrap – The cost of real estate ownership will likely require more income in the future, so if you are near these income levels and do not own any real estate, now maybe the time to consider it. If you’d like to get a property under your name, let us know how we can help. We can determine what works best for you, whether it be for personal home ownership or investment purposes. Give us a call today! We’re here to help.
P.S., Here are a few more stats if you’re curious!
- 64.3% of this sample size graduated university. Asians staying in school – how stereotypical, right??
- 2.34% of the people on this list were non-Asian (but are obviously interested in dating an Asian)
- Surprisingly, there are more females on this site than there are males (typically, it’s the other way around for dating sites).
- If for whatever reason you’re interested in browsing the site yourself, reach out to us and we’ll give you the link. No questions asked ;).
