Tech & Biz

Vancouver housing 'even less affordable'

by Martha Jones | January 24, 2008 at 02:49 pm

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This is troubling reading, speaking as someone contemplating buying a home in the next year or so.

What do other Vancouver residents think - is the price of housing beyond a joke?

Metro Vancouver's housing, in the third quarter of 2007, became the most unaffordable it has been on RBC's measure of affordability since the bank started tracking the issue.

RBC, in its latest report released Jan. 24, found that it took 75 per cent of Metro Vancouver's median pre-tax income to afford an average two-storey Metro Vancouver home, which carried a $619,892 price tag.

In the second quarter of 2007, the measure was 73 per cent of a median household income.

For a more modest detached bungalow with a $599,249 average price, it required 72 per cent of the median household income in the third quarter, compared with 71 per cent in the second quarter.

Condominiums were the most affordable option on RBC's scale, with an average-priced apartment of $298,787 eating up almost 37 per cent of median household income.

But there is a small glimmer of hope. The RBC said:

"We expect some affordability relief to materialize this year as the significant erosion [in affordability] weighs on demand."

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Alan Pater (not verified)

at 13:50 on July 13th, 2008

I guess you missed the news - as do the press releases from the real estate agents - that there is a huge bubble in the market now, one which is on its way to bursting. Wait a couple of years, prices will be a lot lower then they are now.