Alberta’s housing market is showing increasing signs of strength, due to impressive employment gains and a strong provincial economy so far this year, and remains the most affordable province in the country, says the latest Housing Trends and Affordability Report released Friday by RBC Economics.“In the third quarter, provincial home resales and housing starts picked up some steam, reaching their highest levels in more than a year,” said Robert Hogue, a senior economist with RBC. “This renewed demand for Alberta’s housing was partly a result of being an easily affordable market – in fact, the most affordable in Canada.”
RBC’s housing affordability measures for Alberta – which capture the province’s proportion of pre-tax household income needed to service the costs of owning a home at market values – have remained the lowest among the provinces, said the report.
According to the index, the higher the reading, the less affordable it becomes to own a home.
For example, an affordability reading of 50% means that home-ownership costs, including mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes, take up 50% of a typical household's monthly pre-tax income.
For Calgary, the affordability measures and year-over-year change were: bungalow, 37.6 per cent (down 0.4%); two storey, 38.2 per cent (down 0.7%); and condo, 23.2 per cent (down 0.1%).
The index in Vancouver stands at 90.6%, Toronto 52.1% and Montreal 40.9%.
Read More in the Calgary Herald.
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