Tracking Canadian Housing Market Affordability (1999 to 2024)

 

[This post was originally published in Feb. 2023. The analysis has since been updated with 2023/2024 data in Apr. 2024]

This post digs into historical trends in the Canadian housing market using data on home prices, household incomes, and mortgage rates to paint a picture of housing affordability across the country.

The interactive tools below examine 14 major Canadian cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, etc.), with data spanning the years of 1999 to 2024.

 

Multi-City Trends – 1999 to 2024

This is an interactive tool to explore the state of the Canadian real estate market across 6 indicators of housing affordability:

Pick an indicator from the drop-down menu below. Click the city labels in the chart to toggle them on/off. Hover over the lines for more details.

Indicator:
Adjust for inflation?
Tip: click the city names in the chart legend to add/remove them

 

Single City Spotlight – March 2024 Dashboard

Select a city from the drop-down menu — see the latest price / affordability indicators (together with comparisons versus the national average) in the table. See the annual % change in homes prices over time for your selected city in the chart.

Location:
Data as of March 2024 Average Home Price Median Household Income Price-to-Income Ratio
Value x y z
Diff. vs national avg. x y z
Notes Price of the average home Median pre-tax household income Home price divided by pre-tax household income
Monthly Mortgage Payment Mortgage as a % of Income Qualifying Income
Value a b c
Diff. vs national avg. a b c
Notes Assumes 20% down payment, 25-year mortgage term, current 5-year fixed rate of 5.86% Annual mortgage payment divided by annual pre-tax household income Pre-tax income needed to support the implied mortgage payment, at 32% of income paid towards the mortgage

Note: the % change in 2024 represents the year-to-date change as of March 2024.

 

Canadian Mortgage Rates Over Time – 1999 to 2024

To give further context to the trends seen above, here is data on Canadian average mortgage rates over time, from 1999 to 2024.

Mortgage rates are perhaps the single most important driver of changes in home prices. As mortgage rates fall, home prices typically rise. On the other hand, higher mortgage rates typically result in declining home prices. For example: from 2021 to 2024, mortage rates increased from ~3% to ~6%, while average home prices in Canada dropped by roughly 15%.

 

Other Trends and Takeaways

I’ll use this section to highlight a few pieces of data that I found interesting as I sifted through the data.

The Most Expensive & Least Expensive Cities in Canada

Canadian home prices by city in 2024

Cities with the most expensive homes (based on the average home price in March 2024 as per the MLS home price index):

Cities with the least expensive homes:

As of March 2024, the price of the average home in Canada is $718,400.

 

2023 Change in Canadian Home Prices

2023 % change in Canadian home prices by city

The chart above shows the % change in Canadian home prices by city in 2023, on an inflation-adjusted basis. Canadian real estate performance was a mixed bag in 2023, where home prices increased in 7 cities and dropped in 7 cities.

In 2023, home prices increased in the following cities:

On the flip side, home prices dropped in 2023 in the following cities:

 

How Much Have Canadian Home Prices Fallen By?

2024 decrease in Canadian home prices by city

2024 drop in Canadian home prices by city

Across most cities in Canada, real estate prices peaked in Spring 2022, spurred on by a home buying spree during the pandemic. Since then, home prices have dropped in most major cities in Canada.

The most severe home price declines have been in Hamilton and Toronto, with current home prices roughly 15-20% lower than the all-time high price.

On the other hand, home prices in Calgary / Saskatoon / Moncton have continued to increase through 2023 and 2024, with home prices in those cities at all-time highs.

As of March 2024, the average home price in Canada has fallen by 14% (current price of $718,400 versus all-time high price of $836,300).

 

The Most Unafforable Cities in Canada

Canadian mortgage cost as a % of income

Canadian mortgage cost versus income

In spite of the recent declines in home prices in many cities across Canada, the housing market still remains unaffordable for most potential new homebuyers.

As of March 2024, a homebuyer who purchases the average home in Canada with a 20% downpayment at current mortgage rates would have a monthly mortgage payment of $3,722 per month ($44,664 per year). Compared to the median pre-tax household income of $93,220 in Canada, this means that the mortgage payment represents 47.9% of income.

Using this same measure of housing market affordability across Canada, the cities with the most unafforable housing are:

The average citizen cannot afford to buy the average home in these cities. Paying 50%+ of your pre-tax household income towards your mortgage simply is not financially viable.

Those who do manage to buy a home in these markets are often dual-income couples with incomes much higher than the average, and/or those fortunate enough to have parents helping to make a sizable downpayment.

On the other hand, these cities are the most affordable places to live in Canada:

 

Data Sources and Notes

The underlying data for this post came from a variety of sources noted below:

Footnotes:

[1]: In this post, the “average” home price is based on the MLS home price index, which tracks the price of a “benchmark” home in each city over time, assuming constant quality/attributes.

[2]: The implied monthly mortgage payment is calculated assuming that a homebuyer purchases the average home in their city, taking on a mortgage equal to 80% of the average home price with a 25-year term and a mortgage rate equal to the then current average 5-year fixed mortgage rate at the time of purchase.

[3]: “Qualifying income” is the estimated income required to buy the average home in each city, assuming that a homeowner’s mortgage payment is equal to 32% of their pre-tax household income. The 32% affordability threshold is a rule of thumb used in the Canadian mortgage lending industry. For example, you would need an annual pre-tax household income of $112,500 to qualify for a mortgage payment which costs $3,000 per month.

 

Related Reading

Other explorations into incomes, taxes, and the overall cost of living in Canada:

 

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Header illustration credit: Timothy Cook

 



     

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