Vancouver sets a new grim record on housing affordability: RBC report

A new report from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is pointing out what is glaringly obvious to every home buyer in Vancouver and the surrounding areas: It’s never been so unaffordable to buy a home.

According to the RBC report,  Vancouver remains the least affordable housing market in the country by far. To qualify for a mortgage on the purchase of a typical home in the Vancouver area, a buyer needed to earn a minimum of $200,000 annually in the third quarter of 2021. A year later, the qualifying income had soared 34% to an astounding $268,000, the report notes.

Meanwhile, the interest rate hikes have inflated the area’s home ownership cost, with buyers going into full-blown retreat since spring. “The price correction has done little to ease this affordability crisis. It will take further declines to reignite the ownership dreams of many who have been shut out of the market,” the report says.

Karin Kirkpatrick, BC Liberal Shadow Minister for Housing and West Vancouver-Capilano MLA, slammed the reigning NDP on housing affordability. She said RBC report clearly shows that despite the NDP’s many promises, affordability in BC is only getting worse.

“People should not need to earn $268,000 a year to afford a good home, but this is the new reality under David Eby’s NDP. With their inability to truly address the housing crisis, this NDP government has effectively ended the dream of homeownership for an entire generation,” she said.

“Every day I hear from people struggling to make ends meet in the face of skyrocketing interest rates and out of control housing costs,” added Kirkpatrick. “British Columbians are tired of hearing this government constantly talk about housing affordability when after six years of NDP leadership it is worse than ever before.”