Owning a home in Canada becomes costlier

Canada, November 26: Have you migrated to Canada recently and dream to own a house? Well, you may have to wait till the housing market becomes affordable. 

For as per the latest quarterly housing affordability report by Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC), owning a house in Canada has become quite expensive. And the scenario is only going to worsen, at least in the coming few months, as housing will continue to become more costly, the study revealed.

The increase in the costs, which has been the highest since the last six quarters, has affected all the housing segments.

The reasons cited by the bank for this increase in the home ownership costs are a marginal increase in the mortgage rates coupled with the rising house prices.

Robert Hogue, a senior economist of RBC said, “Home affordability deteriorated in all provinces and major markets in Canada due to a slight rise in key mortgage rates and appreciation in property values. He, however, clarified- “Despite this increase in home ownership costs, affordability measures have still shown improvement from a year ago.”  

Seeing the current trend of rising home ownership costs, it is likely to become much more difficult to own a home if you happen to be an immigrant in Canada.

The cost of owning a detached bungalow in Canada rose to 40.2 percent, registering an increase of one percent from the last quarter. Owning a regular condo has become costlier by 0.5 percent, moving to 27.6 percent, while the cost of standard townhouse has increased by 0.7 percent to 32.3 percent. A standard double-storey home has become expensive by 1.2 percent to 45.8 percent.

Even the resale housing market is witnessing a rising trend, adding to the woes of prospective home owners in Canada. As per this month’s Canadian Real Estate Association figures, there has been a growth of 12 percent in Canada’s resale housing market prices as compared to the previous year.

The housing market has witnessed a much high demand as compared to the supply resulting in competitive market and the resultant increase in the house prices throughout the country.

The trend is unlikely to reverse until the nation’s economic recovery improves resulting in increased jobs in the next year.