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Here's The Income You Need To Buy An Average House Across Canada

The Income You Need To Buy A House Across Canada..

A household in Vancouver needs nearly three times the income of a household in Halifax to buy an average home, according to a new report on incomes and house prices in major Canadian cities.

Job search site Workopolis crunched the numbers and determined -- to no one’s surprise -- that Vancouverites need more income than anyone to buy a house. At the other end of the spectrum are Halifax and Winnipeg, the only major cities where you can buy an average house with less than $60,000 in annual income.

The number breakdowns are below, but two things to keep in mind about them: One is that the amount corresponds to what a bank is willing to lend you — which is not the same as the amount you should borrow. Whether or not you max out your mortgage depends on the lifestyle you want to live. House rich, cash poor, anyone?

Secondly, these numbers were calculated at the current going rate for a five-year, fixed-rate mortgage, 2.99 per cent. That’s about as low as mortgage rates get, and if rates were even a little higher, the affordability picture would be considerably worse.

Case in point: You need a household income of $113,000 to buy an average house or condo in Toronto today (at a price of $587,000), but if rates were to rise back to where they were in 2005, about six per cent, the minimum income needed would jump to $143,000. Your monthly mortgage payment would jump from some $2,560 to around $3,460.

So keeping all that in mind, here are the minimum household incomes needed to buy an average house in each of these cities:

Halifax

Average price: $264,447

Monthly mortgage payment: $1,152

Property tax: $266

Income required: $56,929

Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $68,448

Winnipeg

Average price: $270,605

Monthly mortgage payment: $1,179

Property tax: $274

Income required: $58,235

Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $70,110

Montreal

Average price: $344,273

Monthly mortgage payment: $1,500

Property tax: $237

Income required: $68,884

Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $85,012

Regina

Average price: $331,161

Monthly mortgage payment: $1,443

Property tax: $378

Income required: $72,028

Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $87,400

Edmonton

Average price: $365,520

Mortgage payment: $1,592

Property tax: $244

Salary required: $72,617

Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $89,972

Saskatoon

Average price: $349,322

Monthly mortgage payment: $1,522

Property tax: $366

Income required: $74,546

Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $90,966

Ottawa

Average price: $357,887

Monthly mortgage payment: $1,559

Property tax: $336

Income required: $74,820.28

Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $91,734

Calgary

Average price: $465,047

Mortgage mortgage payment: $2,026

Property taxes: $236

Income required: $88,578

Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $111,679

Toronto

Average price: $587,505

Monthly mortgage payment: $2,560

Property tax: $354

Income required: $113,009

Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $143,182

Vancouver

Average price: $819,336

Monthly mortgage payment: $3,570

Property tax: $251

Income required: $147,023

Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $190,581

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