How do you define affordable?
Over at the London Fog, Mapmaster notes that a study from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy places London near the top of affordable housing in Canada as measured by median house prices divided by median annual income.
But wouldn’t it be more revealing, and more useful, to measure housing affordability as measured against the annual income of those who are making minimum wage? Wouldn’t that help to highlight the growing disparity between rich and poor, homelessness, the increasing discontent, community crime rates, etc?
Here is my ranking of the same 17 cities, using median house prices divided by an annual income of $18,000:
| Rank | City | Median Price | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Regina | $115,000.00 | 6.39 |
| 02 | Quebec | $128,200.00 | 7.12 |
| 03 | Winnipeg | $130,100.00 | 7.23 |
| 04 | Saskatoon | $138,000.00 | 7.67 |
| 05 | London | $166,700.00 | 9.26 |
| 06 | Halifax | $176,000.00 | 9.78 |
| 07 | Montréal | $189,500.00 | 10.53 |
| 08 | St. Catharines | $193,500.00 | 10.75 |
| 09 | Ottawa | $201,500.00 | 11.19 |
| 10 | Kitchener | $211,300.00 | 11.74 |
| 11 | Hamilton | $215,700.00 | 11.98 |
| 12 | Oshawa | $222,900.00 | 12.38 |
| 13 | Edmonton | $233,800.00 | 12.99 |
| 14 | Toronto | $295,900.00 | 16.44 |
| 15 | Calgary | $319,000.00 | 17.72 |
| 16 | Victoria | $370,500.00 | 20.58 |
| 17 | Vancouver | $448,800.00 | 24.93 |
© Fowler Media
