Affordable housing markets in BC
Ephraim Vecina
Canadian Real Estate Wealth
Despite exhibiting consistently inflamed price averages, B.C.’s housing market still offers some pockets of relative affordability that households can take advantage of, according to a new analysis by real estate portal Zoocasa.
Single-income households have no luck, however; no B.C. metropolitan market even comes close to the economist-recommended home-price-to-income ratio of 3. In Vancouver, an average home costs at least 32 times the income of a single-earning household, and 14 times that of two-or-more person households.
The Zoocasa study calculated the home-price-to-income ratios of the province’s major cities using data from Statistics Canada. A lower ratio means shorter time needed for paying off a home purchase.
B.C.’s most affordable cities for housing are as follows:
Rank 1 – Prince George
- Single Income Ratio: 9
- Dual-Income Ratio: 4
- Average Price: $347,470
Rank 2 – Kamloops
- Single Income Ratio: 12
- Dual-Income Ratio: 4
- Average Price: $406,768
Rank 3 – Campbell River
- Single Income Ratio: 14
- Dual-Income Ratio: 6
- Average Price: $457,301
Rank 4 – Langford
- Single Income Ratio: 14
- Dual-Income Ratio: 6
- Average Price: $596,816
Rank 5 – Penticton
- Single Income Ratio: 15
- Dual-Income Ratio: 6
- Average Price: $439,957
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