Continued erosion in home ownership affordability: RBC Economics

Home ownership is growing even less affordable across Canada, according to the September 2010 update from RBC Economics. Rapidly increasingly house prices and mortgage rates are the main culprit. In Vancouver, which is Canada’s least affordable ownership market, a median household needs to spend a staggering 82.6% of pre-tax income for a standard home. Earlier in September, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development warned that rising household debt fueled by sky-high housing prices requires governments to make it harder for low and moderate-income households to get mortgages. The combination of eroding ownership affordability and calls for tightening of access to mortgages means that ownership is an even more remote housing option for precariously-housed Canadians. The Wellesley Institute’s Precarious Housing in Canada 2010 sets out a practical, 10-year national housing strategy.