Income needed to buy a home in Calgary jumped by $170 last month

It’s an expensive housing market in Calgary, and you might cancel that monthly gym membership if you want to keep up with the skyrocketing home prices.

According to a new report from Ratehub.ca, home prices have been climbing noticeably even when just looking at month-to-month changes. The report found the average home price in Calgary in March was $580,400 and jumped by nearly $7,000 to $587,000 in April.

In order for Calgarians to keep up, the annual income needed to afford to buy into the market also rose by $170 to $120,650 — a number that seems out of reach for many people.

Market conditions worsened across the country, with Calgary’s rising rates paling in comparison to other major cities.

Ratehub.ca

Halifax was in the top spot with home prices inching close to Calgary’s, and a $17,800 increase in just one month. The average household income increase needed to keep up with that shift is a whopping $2,200.

It looks like the East Coast in general is becoming increasingly unaffordable, as the top three cities requiring the highest income changes are Halifax, Fredericton and St. John’s.

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“The two key variables that impact home affordability, home values and interest rates, moved in opposite directions. Interest rates are down and home values are up in 12 out of 13 cities we looked at,” says James Laird, co-CEO of Ratehub.ca and president of CanWise mortgage lender.

“The increase in home values was enough such that affordability worsened in 10 of 13 cities despite the rate drop.”

Our neighbours to the north saw a small increase of $50 in additional income needed to afford a home in Edmonton.

Most surprising might be the cities that saw the largest affordability improvement.

“The three cities that saw home affordability improve were Montreal, Vancouver and Victoria. Montreal saw the most improvement with $1,170 less income needed to purchase the average home,” according to Laird.

Ratehub added that it’s widely anticipated that home buyers will return to the market once the Bank of Canada starts cutting its trend-setting overnight lending rate, which could occur as early as its next announcement on June 5.