Here's the minimum salary required to afford a home in Toronto right now

Even with a record 32,000-plus homes up for sale in and around Toronto and few of them actually changing hands, housing affordability in the region is still deteriorating, suggesting that the present market lull is likely to continue.

Based on the most recent average house and condo prices in May, along with present interest rates, the market experts at Ratehub.ca have calculated how much a household would need to earn each year to float the standard mortgage in cities across Canada, including in T.O.

And, to people living elsewhere in the world (or even the country) where real estate prices are far lower and incomes are higher, the figure may be shocking.

Between April and May of this year, the mean price across housing types rose by a slight $2,500 in Toronto, per the firm's data, from $1,009,400 to $1,012,800. This makes the typical monthly mortgage bill in the city $5,129 some $17 more than just a month earlier.

In total, at a lending rate of 4.38 per cent and stress test rate of 6.38 per cent, this means that a homebuyer would need to have a salary of a whopping $206,500 to carry the mortgage, property taxes and select utility bills of the average home here.

By comparison, in Fredericton, the cheapest large market in the country, one would only need to earn $78,200 annually to cover the average home, which costs about $334,700.

Regina, St. John's and Winnipeg are similarly inexpensive, with homes costing, on average, $340,800 (necessitating an income of $79,350 a year), $378,300 (requiring $86,450 a year) and $387,800 (floated by $88,250 per year), respectively.

The only city pricier than Toronto is Vancouver, where a household income of at least $237,550 is needed to afford a home, which costs approximately $1,177,100 as of May — but, this price tag is a notable $7,500 dip from April's price, meaning affordability in the west coast city is improving.

Looking across Canada, home prices now sit at around $691,299, which is a 1.8 per cent decline from May 2024, but a 1.9 per cent bump from April 2025.

Chart of home prices in major Canadian cities as of May 2025, the income needed to afford them, and how these figures have changed in the last month, from Ratehub.ca

As Ratehub's staff writes in their new report, "shifts in affordability were largely due to changes in home price, as demand is starting to firm up in regional markets across Canada... [but] price and sales growth still differs in markets across Canada."

They add that Hamilton "continued to post the deepest price decreases — and corresponding improvement in affordability – where smaller, more moderately priced markets continued to see sustained activity and rising prices."

Looking ahead, they note that home sales increased on a monthly basis for the first time in more than six months, in May, effectively "putting a stop to falling prices."

"While early, this could pose evidence that the market is starting to defrost, as buyers shake off ongoing tariff uncertainty," they say.

The company's calculations take into account a 10 per cent down payment and 25-year amortization, plus $4,000 annual property taxes and $150 monthly in heating, at the average rate of the Big Five Banks' 5-year fixed rates.