Home Ownership Remains “Exceptionally Affordable” in Northern BC – Report
Prince George, B.C. – It remains a lot more affordable to buy a home in northern BC than Vancouver.
That according to a report released this week by the Northern Real Estate Board.
The BC Northern Real Estate Board Housing Affordability Indicator (BCNREB) estimates the proportion of median household income required to cover mortgage costs, municipal taxes and fees, and utilities for the average single family home.
In 2013 the BCNREB for northern BC was 29.4% compared to 82.4% for Vancouver and 68.1% province-wide.
The average price of a home sold in the north was about $260,000 compared with $810,000 in Vancouver (the provincial average was $616,000).
The report revealed Mackenzie as the most affordable community in the north where homeowners require only 20.8% of their annual income to cover the costs of housing while the affordability indicators for Prince George (30.3%), Prince Rupert (28.5%), and Quesnel (27.7%) has remained reasonably flat since 2010.
Fort St. John remains the most expensive place to buy a home in the north ($360,000 average) yet due to high median incomes ($88,000) remains affordable (29.9% on the BCNREB).
100 Mile House came highest on the BCNREB at 34.8%.
Comments
82.4 almost seems illegal. Property rich is good as long as you don’t like to eat.
That 82.4% is a strange number. I say this because if that’s how much it costs to pay your mortgage each month, then it’s pure insanity. But the number comes from the price of the units versus income in the lower mainland. A vast chunk of these real estate sales are being done by offshore people with buckets of cash to spend. There is a large quantity of condos and houses that actually sit empty after the sale.
So are people really paying that 82.4%? I know of no bank in it’s right mind that would ever allow that kind of loan. It’s just a statistical number the medias like to toss around.
On a side note… the rental vacancy rate in Vancouver is 1.8% partly because of all these empty units. They literally have “cattle calls” when rental units come available. The landlord gets to choose who gets the place. It’s not first come gets the unit any longer.
You are correct PP,but some young families must have outrageous mortgages. PG is definitely closer to reality.I also find $616,000 average a bit high, but I’m sure that is skewed somehow as well.
Ft St John is ridiculous. 350k will basically get you a crack shack. Its common to see duplexes selling for well north of 400k.
Housing only remains ‘affordable’ as long as interest rates are suppressed. If those go up by even a couple of percentage points then many people will be priced right out of the market.
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