An overwhelming majority of Canadians think that owning a home is a good investment according to a new pool RBC Royal Bank.

A compelling 89% of Canadian homeowners and 79% of Canadian renters says a home is a good investment.

Meanwhile 26 %of all Canadians are likely to purchase one in the next two years, according to the bank’s 11th annual homeownership survey.

One in ten Canadians (11%) say they are very likely (down 2 points from last year) to purchase a home in the next two years. Additionally, 8% of these expect to buy within the next six months.

“We believe that for a significant majority of Canadians, their home is as much an investment as it is a place to live,” said Nancy Mitchell, national manager, Mortgages, RBC Royal Bank, in a news release. ” What we have seen year-over-year is an overwhelming belief in the long-term value of a home.”

Based on potential homebuyers’ intentions, RBC says 2004 should be another banner year, but with different players leading the charge.

Canadians living in Alberta lead the nation as the most likely to buy a house within the next two years (36%, up 2 points from last year). British Columbia comes in second with 35% (up 11 points) planning to buy a home in the same time frame. Next in line are those in Saskatchewan/Manitoba (26%, down 3 points), Ontario (24%, unchanged), Quebec (20%, down one point), and residents of Atlantic Canada (19%, down 2 points).

The poll was conducted by Ipsos-Reid between February 3 and February 15. The telephone survey is based on a randomly selected representative sample of 2,000 adult Canadians. With a representative sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within (+/-) 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.