Study states Victoria is Canada’s 2nd least affordable housing market as of 2018 (REPORT)

A study published by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP) – an independent Canadian public policy think tank – confirms what Victorians have suspected for years.

Victoria is home to the second least affordable real estate market in Canada, after Vancouver, and followed closely by Toronto.

The study, entitled “14th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2018” was based on housing markets in Canada, Australia, China (Hong Kong), Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Factors in affordability

This report factors in both the price of the house and the median household income in any given market to determine middle-income housing affordability.

A total of 293 housing markets across 9 countries were studied, and overall, the United States is the most affordable, while Canada, the UK, Singapore, and Ireland have seriously unaffordable markets.

In British Columbia

Although Vancouver and Victoria take the cake with the least affordable housing markets in Canada, real estate in other B.C. cities seems to have followed the trend.

Nanaimo, the Fraser Valley, Chilliwack, and Kelowna all suffer from extremely unaffordable markets, in comparison with the rest of Canada.

Earlier this year, the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) proposed a tax reform plan targeting speculators as a solution to the lack of affordable housing in the province.

Most affordable in Canada

According to the report, Moncton, NB is the most affordable city to own a house in Canada for the sixth year in a row.

The other three most affordable housing markets in the country are in Fredericton, NB, Fort McMurray, AB, and St. John, NB.

Click here to read the full report.