Here's The Income You Need To Buy An Average House Across Canada

A household in Vancouver needs nearly three times the income of a household in Halifax to buy an average home, according to a new report on incomes and house prices in major Canadian cities.

Job search site Workopolis crunched the numbers and determined -- to no one’s surprise -- that Vancouverites need more income than anyone to buy a house. At the other end of the spectrum are Halifax and Winnipeg, the only major cities where you can buy an average house with less than $60,000 in annual income.

The number breakdowns are below, but two things to keep in mind about them: One is that the amount corresponds to what a bank is willing to lend you — which is not the same as the amount you should borrow. Whether or not you max out your mortgage depends on the lifestyle you want to live. House rich, cash poor, anyone?

Secondly, these numbers were calculated at the current going rate for a five-year, fixed-rate mortgage, 2.99 per cent. That’s about as low as mortgage rates get, and if rates were even a little higher, the affordability picture would be considerably worse.

Case in point: You need a household income of $113,000 to buy an average house or condo in Toronto today (at a price of $587,000), but if rates were to rise back to where they were in 2005, about six per cent, the minimum income needed would jump to $143,000. Your monthly mortgage payment would jump from some $2,560 to around $3,460.

So keeping all that in mind, here are the minimum household incomes needed to buy an average house in each of these cities:

Halifax

Average price: $264,447
Monthly mortgage payment: $1,152
Property tax: $266
Income required: $56,929
Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $68,448

Winnipeg

Average price: $270,605
Monthly mortgage payment: $1,179
Property tax: $274
Income required: $58,235
Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $70,110

Montreal

Average price: $344,273
Monthly mortgage payment: $1,500
Property tax: $237
Income required: $68,884
Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $85,012

Regina

Average price: $331,161
Monthly mortgage payment: $1,443
Property tax: $378
Income required: $72,028
Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $87,400

Edmonton

Average price: $365,520
Mortgage payment: $1,592
Property tax: $244
Salary required: $72,617
Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $89,972

Saskatoon

Average price: $349,322
Monthly mortgage payment: $1,522
Property tax: $366
Income required: $74,546
Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $90,966

Ottawa

Average price: $357,887
Monthly mortgage payment: $1,559
Property tax: $336
Income required: $74,820.28
Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $91,734

Calgary

Average price: $465,047
Mortgage mortgage payment: $2,026
Property taxes: $236
Income required: $88,578
Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $111,679

Toronto

Average price: $587,505
Monthly mortgage payment: $2,560
Property tax: $354
Income required: $113,009
Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $143,182

Vancouver

Average price: $819,336
Monthly mortgage payment: $3,570
Property tax: $251
Income required: $147,023
Income required at 2005 rates (6%): $190,581

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