Dale Jackson

Personal Finance Columnist, Payback Time

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If you’re going gray, and you want to stay, you’ve gotta pay.

That seems to be the rule for Canadian seniors who want to spend their golden years at home.

According to a new study by HomEquity Bank and Ipsos Canada, 58 per cent of Canadians over 55 years old plan to retire in their family homes.

It also finds more than half admit they need to make renovations to accommodate them as they age.

For cash-strapped baby boomers, financing those renovations could be challenging.

The study shows 62 per cent plan to draw on savings; 25 per cent plan to arrange a reverse mortgage (HomEquity provides reverse mortgages) or home equity lines of credit; 11 per cent plan to utilize investments and nine per cent plan to sell existing assets. It adds up to more than 100 because some of the answers overlap.

Most of the renovation work relates to alternatives to stairs or providing main floor bathrooms.

AGTA Home Health Care, a company that provides products and services for seniors, breaks down the most common renovations projects and their prices:

- Improving accessibility from the main floor to the second floor, via a stair glide, starting at $3,000.
- Improving accessibility from outside the home to inside, via a ramp, starting at $3,000.
- Creating a full bathroom on the main floor of a home, starting at $10,000.