Vancouver housing affordability unlikely to improve: RBC report
Posted June 22, 2015 9:22 am.
Last Updated June 22, 2015 9:27 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s not getting any more affordable to buy a house in Metro Vancouver.
The hot sellers’ market for all types of homes in the region likely means most types of homes will continue to get more unaffordable, according to a new RBC report.
“Our housing affordability measures for British Columbia remain above long-term averages, substantially so for bungalows and two-storey homes – the higher the measure the less affordable the segment,” says RBC chief economist Craig Wright.
“That being said, poor affordability levels primarily reflected the extreme situation in Vancouver. Home ownership is comparatively more affordable across other markets in the province.”
Breaking down homes by type, bungalows saw their biggest increase in three years – up 2.8 percentage points to 85.6 per cent – while the measure for two-storey homes rose 0.9 percentage points to 86.9 per cent, according to the RBC report.
Condos remain the most affordable type of home in Metro Vancouver.
“Our measure for condos bucked the deteriorating trend in Vancouver – the segment was better supplied thanks to increased multi-unit construction over the past couple of years, keeping prices generally contained,” says Wright.
“Overall though, Vancouver has recently experienced the fastest rate of appreciation among Canada’s largest cities, which suggests that affordability may well deteriorate further going forward.”
The report also says demand continues to be strongest in Vancouver and Toronto, though there were signs that demand in some previously soft markets, including Montreal and Ottawa, began to pick up.
