You likely don’t need a reminder that it’s a struggle to purchase a home in Victoria, but a recent report has confirmed just that.
According to The National Bank of Canada’s Housing Affordability Report, Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver rank as the three most expensive major cities in Canada to purchase a home.
In Victoria, the average, representative non-condo home costs $1.02 million — meaning you would need an annual household income of $176k, and have to save for over 28 years to purchase a home.
For a condo, a person with an annual household income of $108k would need to save for almost four years.
According to the report, Victoria has seen a steep increase in rent as well, a trend which began halfway into 2019.
Comparatively, in Montreal — where housing affordability measures below the Canadian average — the average price of a home is $492k and a condo is $356k.
For someone with an income of six or five figures, saving for a home or condo rounds out to over three years and two years, respectively.
Globally, among the world’s perspectives in housing market price growth, Canada sits third— Turkey ranks second and Russia ranks first.
Per square foot, the report suggests that housing prices in Canada are not that extreme.
For a 700 square foot apartment, Hong Kong ranks first as the most expensive city with Tokyo and Paris rounding out the top three, and Vancouver coming 11th.
Since the housing crisis in 2008 though, Vancouver’s housing market has skyrocketed to more than double what it was before.
This, in turn, has affected Victoria’s market.
The good news is that the worst may be behind us,
Victoria is seeing both a plateau in its renter’s market and a downward trend in the housing market as of this year.
So, if you’re a seller, you’re in luck! And, if you’re a buyer, maybe you can hold out for hope!
