![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/JPbombales-3831-compressed.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto: James Bombales<\/em><\/p>\n The Bank of Canada has been hiking interest rates all year, and Canada\u2019s big banks have been raising mortgage rates accordingly. The result? A nationwide deterioration in housing affordability, according to a new report from Desjardins.<\/p>\n The growth of the average property sale price in the majority of Canadian metropolitan areas increased in the third quarter of 2018, outpacing the average household after-tax income.<\/p>\n\n \u201cThis tightening of access to property is due to stricter conditions for obtaining a mortgage, while mortgage rates have been rising for several months,\u201d reads the Desjardins report. \u201cThe capacity of households to buy a home has therefore dropped across Canada.\u201d <\/p>\n The report notes that affordability levels remain below their historical average, meaning that buying a home was more difficult in Q3 2018 than it was on average over the last 20 years.<\/p>\n The story is worse for some markets than others. Quebec has seen affordability deteriorate, as strong immigration numbers and a hot job market draw more buyers to the region. <\/p>\n