Move to Edmonton? These Canadian cities are the cheapest to buy in

Move to Edmonton? These Canadian cities are the cheapest for singles to buy in

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Do you have $45,000 kicking around? That’s how much you’ll need in order for a minimum down payment in Canada’s most expensive housing market.

That’s according to Zoocasa, which crunched the numbers on Canada’s most expensive spots to buy a home and found Vancouver’s singles are going to have to work for more than a year in order to afford the downpayment for an apartment/condo.

Looking at the average income, the benchmark prices for units across the country, and excluding the “Bank of Mom and Dad,” the second most expensive city for a condo would be Toronto.

British Columbia’s capital city Victoria is third at $30,000 for a down payment, which puts the Vancouver Island hotspot well above the Canadian average.

www.zoocasa.com

For Alberta’s singles, Edmonton earners are sitting pretty compared to Calgarians for the minimum downpayment and it’s even less expensive than Saskatchewan’s biggest cities.

It ranked 15th out of 15th for regions where Zoocasa studied the cost of buying a condo, as you only need about $9,000 to get into the market.

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zoocasa.com

“To find out where a single income can go the furthest, Zoocasa analyzed the minimum down payment needed to purchase a benchmark apartment in 15 regions in Canada and compared it to the after-tax single-household median incomes earned in each. The study also calculated how many months it would take for such a homebuyer to save up the necessary down payment, assuming they contribute 100% of their income annually,” Zoocasa wrote in its piece.

But, compared to what it would have been before the interest rate increase and the jump in home prices, it’s still not a walk in the park for prospective homebuyers.

But while single earners have a rough financial fight to get into the homebuyer’s market, it could be comforting to know at least they have lots of company.

According to data from Statistics Canada, one-person households are the predominant household type, as per 2021 numbers.

CREA

We asked the Canadian Real Estate Association senior economist to weigh in on how the market is looking for first-time homebuyers.

“Some things have changed this year versus last year and some things haven’t. With regards to what has changed most significantly, interest rates have stopped rising and home prices have stopped falling, which you would think are probably the two biggest milestones would-be buyers have been waiting to see before coming off the sidelines. With regards to what hasn’t changed, there still isn’t a whole lot out there for them to buy,” Shaun Cathcart told Daily Hive.

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Are you unable to buy a home because of your solo status? Let us know in the comments below.