Saskatchewan's housing affordability brightens: RBC
TORONTO, March 7, 2012 /CNW/ - Housing affordability continued to improve across most types of housing in Saskatchewan during the last quarter of 2011, according to the latest Housing Trends and Affordability Report issued today by RBC Economics Research.
"For the second quarter in a row, owning a home in Saskatchewan became a little easier for buyers," said Robert Hogue, senior economist, RBC. "For the most part, housing in the province is as affordable as it has been on average over the long term - affordability is unlikely to be much of a deterrent in the near term."
RBC's housing affordability measures for Saskatchewan, which capture the province's proportion of pre-tax household income that would be needed to service the costs of owning a home at the going market value, decreased modestly in two of three categories of homes (a decrease represents an improvement in affordability). The measure for the benchmark detached bungalow in the province fell to 37.9 per cent (a decrease of 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter), while the standard condominium eased to 25.6 per cent (down 0.3 percentage points). The measure for a standard two-storey home moved in the opposite direction, rising to 41.7 per cent (a rise of 0.3 percentage points).
Read the full article
here.