By Kiyoko FujimuraRBC reported today that while most cities provide “reasonably affordable” housing, there is definitely an exception to the rule. Anyone have a guess?
Ahh okay… I know it’s a toughie. I’ll give you a clue: it starts with a “V” and ends in “ancouver”.
According to the Globe and Mail:
“The Greater Vancouver Area directly accounted for one-third of the deterioration in affordability at the national level since the beginning of 2011. The average family buying a house in the city would need to dedicate 92.5 per cent of its income to own a bungalow.”
So basically… yeah. If you’re an average household in Vancouver, you can’t have a house with a backyard. You just can’t. That, in not-so-fancy-economic-terms, sucks.
The rest of the country wasn’t as bad, though. Bungalows took up the following percentages of pre-tax income in their respective cities:
- Toronto: 51.9% (up 2.0%)
- Montreal: 42.6% (up 1.4%)
- Ottawa: 41.2% (up 1.3%)
- Edmonton: 33.8% (up 0.6%)
So that’s not so bad. It’s just that darn Vancouver messing with the stats.
