Vancouver has developed a stink among first-time home buyers.
Recent statistics released by RBC Economics found that Vancouverites dedicate a whopping 45 to 93 per cent of each paycheck towards home payments. It did not come as a surprise to locals when the city was named by RBC as "the least affordable in Canada in the second quarter of 2012."
While the city has earned a reputation for dominating Canadian "most expensive houses for sale" lists, asking prices for average homes remain a dealbreaker to many first-time buyers.
Recent tightening of mortgage restrictions have made these difficult times for first-time buyers vying for a piece of property on some of "the most expensive land in Canada.'
Though the price may close the sale of a small dusty apartment with aged carpeting and jaundice walls in the city's eastside, a $300,000 offer will not buy any a single detached home in Vancouver proper. Owning a home is just not in the cards for many here.
Perhaps it's time to look beyond the Lower Mainland to other, cheaper, parts of the province.
The Huffington Post B.C. used $300,000 as a baseline amount to evaluate the scope of real estate options available to first-time buyers with similar budgetary constraints.
From a 765 sq foot apartment in Vancouver to a home on five acres of land in Smithers, to houseboats, new developments in locations as south as Surrey to as north as Dawson Creek, plum offers exist to those willing to relocate.
Here is a list of what real estate $300,000 can buy in B.C. for August 2012.
