The most, least affordable Canadian cities

Vancouver is bottom of the league when it comes to affordability while Charlottetown is the most affordable. That’s according to credit counselling service Consolidated Credit which has ranked Canadian cities by house price and the percentage of after-tax income required to buy a home.

In Vancouver a buyer would need 71 per cent of their average $73,390 income to buy a home with the average price of $866,772. In Charlottetown a buyer would need just 19 per cent of their $75,260 income to buy the average $171,140 home. The second most affordable city is Saint John (20 per cent of income) with Regina third and St. John’s fourth (both at 25 per cent).

Two cities rank ‘almost affordable’ with buyers requiring 27 per cent of their income to buy in Halifax and 28 per cent in Winnipeg. Calgary (30 per cent), Montreal (31 per cent) and Toronto (54 per cent) are all deemed unaffordable. The credit firm recommends a budget of 25 per cent of after-tax income, lower than the 32 per cent advised by CMHC.
 

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