VANCOUVER—Owning a home in Vancouver is the most unaffordable it has ever been in any Canadian city, according to economists at the Royal Bank of Canada.

Using the latest data from the first three months of 2018, economists found the costs associated with owning a condo are more than 50 per cent of household income and hit almost 120 per cent for a house in Metro Vancouver, depending on income.

“Affordability has resumed deteriorating,” said Robert Hogue, senior economist for RBC. “It’s hard to deny that there’s a crisis situation in Vancouver,” he said.

The findings are based on an estimated median household income of $75,400 in the Metro Vancouver area, and based on a buyer making a 25 per cent down payment, Hogue said.

The “aggregate” share needed of a household’s income is 87.8 per cent, which is “the highest any market in Canada has ever been,” he said.

Following the foreign homeowners tax imposed by the former B.C. Liberal government, the market cooled down in 2016 and average home prices decreased, he said. But since then prices for both single detached homes and condos have risen, and continued to rise through the first quarter of this year. This, Hogue said, combined with the Bank of Canada’s increased interest rates, means someone looking to buy a home will now be paying more for their mortgage.

These latest numbers on the cost of home ownership stand in sharp contrast to what is considered “affordable.” According to the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation, housing is considered affordable if it costs less than 30 per cent of a household income.

The report shows that the average price for a condo in Vancouver is $657,000 and the price for a detached home at $1.58 million.

This means that even if a Vancouver family earning $75,400 per year can come up with a down payment of $164,000 for a condo, they’ll still be paying over 50 per cent of their household income towards home ownership costs.

According to the report “things could get worse if — or when — interest rates rise further” and “current price levels are an impossibly high hurdle for many would-be buyers.”

Even though the Bank of Canada increased interest rates over the past year, RBC predicts it will raise its rates again. By July 2019 it predicts interest rates will have increased by one per cent, from 1.25% to 2.25%.

More to come.

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