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Can you afford it?
A worldwide survey says forget about Vancouver but consider Regina ... or Buffalo?
With house prices soaring by 10 per cent in the past year, many Canadians are struggling to find an affordable home. But take a step back, and Canada's situation doesn't look so bad, as Jason Kirby reports in the current issue of Maclean's. In fact, when compared to some of the world's other major centres, Canadian cities still offer some of the best housing deals anywhere.
Each year, Demographia—a U.S.-based real estate research firm—reports on housing affordability in 159 major markets around the world. Their most recent report found that Canada had some of the most affordable regions of all the nations surveyed(which included the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand). In fact, Regina, is listed as one of the three most affordable markets(Fort Wayne, IN, and Youngstown, OH, were the others).
And while both Vancouver and Victoria ranked among the 25 least-affordable markets in the survey, earning the description of "severely unaffordable," they were the only Canadian cities represented in that category—well below the number of U.S. cities(14), as well as the U.K.(5)and Australia(4).
Calgary and Toronto, meanwhile, were described as "seriously unaffordable," while Montreal, St. Catharines, Edmonton, Hamilton and Halifax are "moderately unaffordable." But good news - several Canadian cities were classified "affordable," including Ottawa, Saskatoon, Quebec, Winnipeg, and of course, Regina.
December 26, 2007 in Buying Toronto Real Estate | Permalink
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What about land taxes? Are these as high in Canada as are in the U.S.?
Posted by: Javier | Dec 31, 2007 8:06:12 PM
It's easy to buy a place considering your own higher income. Lots of good deals all around if your home is worth more than where you're looking.
But think for a second about all those people just starting out.
Please don't battle with me about expectations, many of us do have low expectations and are still priced out. You can't approach the situation and give a fair view if you base it solely on your own current circumstance.
39k barely gets you a 120k home along with other modest monthly expenses. BARELY. Canada for Canadians is losing it's edge.
For others from more wealthy economies or those with more money and existing equity?
Somehow I doubt they were experiencing difficulties in the first place!
In the end, this is about wages not seeing any significant increase (or at least anything in step with inflation) over the past 10-15 years.
Posted by: Alexander Trauzzi | Dec 28, 2007 8:36:51 PM
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