RBC says home ownership was less affordable in most major Canadian cities during the first quarter, although Calgary and Edmonton bucked the trend.
The latest RBC Economics report on home affordability says its index deteriorated sharply in Vancouver and to a lesser degree in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa — primarily due to higher real-estate prices.
But the bank's affordability index was unchanged in Calgary and improved in Edmonton compared with the fourth quarter of 2011.
The report tracks how much of a home owner's income would be required to pay typical costs associated with owning a standard one-storey detached house.
In Vancouver, RBC estimates the combined cost of mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes rose 3.1 percentage points to 88.9%
In Calgary, by contrast, only about 36.7% of pre-tax income would be required to pay for a standard bungalow —unchanged from the previous study — and in Edmonton the index improved by 0.4 percentage point to 32.4%
In Toronto, the index deteriorated by 1.2 percentage points to 53.4%; in Montreal, the cost of ownership increased 1.2 percentage points to 41.4% of income and in Ottawa it was up 0.9 percentage points to 41.8%
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