toronto real estate

It now costs nearly all of the average Toronto household's income to buy a home here

The next time your parents or other elderly family members hassle you about investing in your future by saving for a home, you can confidently tell them that we can't relate to their good ol' days, because houses in Canada are now less affordable than they've ever been — and you can offer up the numbers to back that up, too.

According to a new study from RBC Economics, housing affordability across the country reached the worst level it's ever gotten to (yes, ever) during the second quarter of this year.

To determine this, the bank examined the percentage of the median household income required to purchase a home, maintain a mortgage and cover other ownership costs in various locales nationwide.

And, the findings are bleak: given the average price of a home in Canada and current lending rates, it would take 60 per cent of the median household income to cover the expense — the worst figure since we hit 57 per cent all the way back in 1990.

Of course, the stats were even worse for our most expensive cities, Toronto and Vancouver.

In Ontario's capital, it now costs a whopping 83 per cent of the median income to afford a home here, with prices at nearly $1.1 million, on average, across the GTA (per TRREB) and interest rates at 3.25 per cent (and both set to keep rising).

And on the west coast, it's even more brutal, with Vancouverites having to hand over a staggering 90 per cent of their income, based on the median, if they were to buy the typical home there.

Of course, in Calgary, this number was only 39 per cent, and in Edmonton, only 29; and though one may be tempted to wonder who the hell would want to live in either of those places, this report does make Alberta's new campaign to get people from the 6ix to head west a bit more appealing.

Lead photo by

@torontocitylife


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