We’ve always known this, but a new report has reaffirmed it. Saskatchewan is the easiest place in the country to own your own home.
RBC Royal Bank regularly prepares what it calls its Home Affordability Index, looking at the average income in various cities in the country and average house prices in those communities. The headline on the report is that home ownership has never been so far out of reach for most Canadians.
This is particularly true in a handful of cities: Vancouver, Toronto and Victoria and to a lesser degree in Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. Only 10 per cent of the population of BC, for example, could afford to buy a single-family home right now as it would take 102 per cent of the average household income to make that purchase.
In Saskatchewan, by contrast, around 60 per cent of the population generates enough income to acquire a single-family unit. We top the affordability list with that figure which is matched by Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. This is especially true in Regina which the bank describes as one of the best markets it tracks.
