Kat Armstrong is not ready to hunt for a new rental home. She and her husband Matthew moved their family into their current Toronto apartment less than two years ago. Plus, she recently gave birth to their third child.
But her landlord has just sold their building so Armstrong has reluctantly started the search for a new place. "It is exhausting, it's really stressful," says the 35-year-old. "We're at the whim of our landlords."
She and her husband would love to become homeowners but that dream has been dashed. Both earn good salaries; Armstrong even runs a small business on top of her marketing job. But the family of five can't afford to buy a house in Toronto without taking on a crippling mortgage.
"Unless we were to win the lottery, I don't see it happening," she says.
Armstrong is resigned to a life of renting and so are many living in Toronto and Vancouver. Both cities have red-hot real estate markets where the average detached house is now selling near or over $1 million.
Frustrations recently reached a boiling point in Vancouver thanks to a social media campaign. But despite the outcry, there appears to be no relief in sight. A recent RBC report noted that home ownership affordability continued to deteriorate in both Vancouver and Toronto in the first three months of this year.
According to the bank's calculations, a standard two-storey house in Vancouver sold for an average $929,000, requiring a whopping 86.9% of the median household income in the city to cover the mortgage and related costs. In Toronto, the average price was $759,800, requiring 67% of household income to foot the bills.
