Another Canadian city is ranked second least affordable
Calgary is known for its stampede, but the city may need to brace for another kind of rush – that of homebuyers eager for a piece of what was revealed to be the most affordable housing market in North America.
Real estate site Zoocasa studied December 2018 median home prices for 30 major US and five Canadian markets and calculated the minimum income required to purchase in each city. That amount was then compared to the actual median income earned, to determine whether the market presented buyers with an income surplus (when the median income is sufficient, or more than enough to purchase the median-priced home), or an income gap, which indicates incomes have not kept pace with real estate price growth.
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The survey found that Calgary real estate can be considered the most affordable of all the studied markets, with a whopping income surplus of $40,297, and a median household income of $97,334. And another Canadian city, Ottawa, ranked sixth in affordability, with an income surplus of $27,714 based on the median income of $85,981.
On the other end of the spectrum, Vancouver has Canada’s most expensive housing market and places second overall in terms of unaffordability, with an income gap of $99,517, compared to a median income of $65,327.
