Saskatoon housing affordability improves in 2011: Demographia

Saskatoon recorded its third consecutive annual improvement in affordability according to the 8th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2012. Demographia’s estimates suggest that Saskatoon home buyers can expect to pay four times the country’s median income to purchase a home priced at the median,* a number which the survey authors consider “moderately unaffordable”.

Calgary, Montreal and Victoria also showed modest affordability improvements during 2011 while Halifax, Ottawa, Regina, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg all became less affordable.

Vancouver once again reined for the largest income to price gap in Canada. In that area it now takes 10.6 times median income to purchase a home priced at the median, up from 9.5 times just a year ago.

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See the entire Demographia survey for 2012 and past reports for 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006.

*The median defines the centre point where half of all values are above and half are below that point. For instance, if the median income for an area were $50,000 then half off all income earners would earn more than that and half would earn less. In the case of home values, it’s the point at which half of all sales occur above the number, and half occur below.

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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra