Vancouver Is North America's Least Affordable City To Own A Home, Toronto 13th
When it comes to owning a home, Toronto ranks 13th among North America’s 50 least affordable cities, well behind list-topper Vancouver.
The International Housing Affordability Survey, released by Points2 Homes, applied each city's mean home sale price and divided it by the median annual family income. A 5.1 ranking or above was considered severely unaffordable, while 3 and under was considered affordable.
With a median home sale price of nearly $1.11M and a median family income of $63,944, Vancouver has a severely unaffordable ranking of 17.3. This ranks ahead of No. 2 Manhattan (15.6) and No. 3 San Francisco (13.8).
The survey cites a New York Times article that claims Vancouver’s affordability crisis has been fueled by foreign investments in the real estate sector, escalating the median home sale price way above the median family income.
Toronto ranks as the second most unaffordable market in Canada to own a home, and 13th in North America with an affordability ratio of 7.5. The city has a median home sale price of $471,600 and a median income of $62,624.
To put it into perspective, it would take 10 years longer to pay off a house in Vancouver than in Toronto.
Also included in the survey’s top 50 list of least affordable cities were Mississauga (7.4, No. 14), Montreal (4.2, No. 31), Calgary (4.1, No. 32) and Edmonton (3.5, No. 38).
