Here's how much you now need to make to afford a home in Edmonton

While requiring a six-digit income to afford a home has become the norm in many parts of Canada, a new report highlighting the minimum income needed to buy a home shows that Edmonton remains an outlier regarding affordable house prices.

A report from Ratehub.ca calculated the minimum annual income required to buy an average home in some of Canada’s major cities based on August 2023 and July 2023 real estate data.

The report details how changing mortgage rates, stress test rates, and real estate prices are impacting the income required to buy a home.

You might also like:
• Bricks considered garbage elsewhere are super popular in Edmonton
• All the ways Canadians will get more money from the government next month
• 10 fantastic things to do this week in Edmonton: September 18 to 22

In July 2023, Edmontonians hoping to buy a home needed to make $80,760 per year to afford one, but that climbed slightly to needing an extra $270 in their take-home income in August. This is despite home prices decreasing (🔻$1,000) to $374,100.

Ratehub.ca

Cities including Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto saw average house prices decrease in August 2023. However, housing affordability isn’t getting easier for Canadians despite the decrease.

“Mortgage rates continued to increase slightly from July to August 2023 with the stress test remaining above 8%. As a result, home affordability has worsened in the majority of the cities we looked at,” Ratehub said.

In Vancouver, while the average home price decreased by $2,300, affordability worsened due to the rise in mortgage rates, with $1,480 in additional income required to purchase a home.

Our neighbours to the south in Calgary saw the highest increase in house costs, with the average income to purchase a home in that city now pegged at $119,500 per year.