Alberta among Canada's most affordable housing markets

The Housing Trends and Affordability Report, published by RBC Economic Research, notes that Alberta's housing market has been one of the strongest in the country since 2010. Despite a small drop in the amount of resales in the fourth quarter, the financial institution said that this was not detrimental to the gains observed earlier in the year.

Home resales across  Alberta were still above average, checking in at 12.3 per cent. Additionally, the report stated that affordability measures for two-storey single-family homes fell 0.5 per cent to 34.6 per cent, and by 0.2 percentage points to 32.7 per cent for bungalows.

It was a different story for condo units, however, as the measure for those properties increade by 0.1 per cent to 19.9 per cent.

"In the final months of 2013, Alberta's housing market cooled a little and owning a home in the province became slightly more affordable, continuing to compare favourably against both national and provincial historical averages," Craig Wright, senior vice-president and chief economist for RBC, said in an interview.

"Looking ahead this year, we expect that constructive affordability conditions, a booming provincial economy and strong population growth will continue to fuel homebuyer demand in the province."

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