Okanagan housing market ranked 4th most unaffordable
Head of real estate board takes issue with some comparisons in report by real estate listing website
No surprises here. Buying a home in the Okanagan is nigh impossible for a single person making a median income of $28,900.
A report released Wednesday by Toronto-based real estate listing website ZooCasa.com ranks the Okanagan as the fourth most unaffordable housing market in Canada for a single-income earner, behind Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Toronto.
The average selling price of a home in the Okanagan is $509,545, which takes into account all housing types, from single-family and duplex to townhouse and condominium.
The median one-person income in the Okanagan is $28,900, according to Statistics Canada.
Thus, the average home price is 18 times more than the median income.
In Vancouver, it’s 28 times, with the average home price of $1.07 million and the median one-person income at $38,164.
At the other end of the spectrum, Saint John, N.B., is the most affordable because the average home price of $171,596 is just four times the median one-person income of $39,163.
“This is an interesting study,” said Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board president Tanis Read, who is also a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker in Kelowna.
“Yes, there are people struggling to find a home they can afford in the Okanagan, but that’s not new. Even when house prices went down in the recession, there were still people who couldn’t afford to buy here.”
Comparing the high average selling price of all housing types at $509,545 and the low median one-person income of $28,900 is unfair, Read said.
Someone with that income would be better suited to renting or searching for a condo priced in the $200,000s, not a single-family home priced at almost $700,000, she said.
Read also pointed out that the median one-person income of $28,900 is low because it includes both part-time and fulltime wage earners.
There’s also the discrepancy between median and average.
Median is the point with an equal number of income earners both above and below.
Average is the number when all income is divided by the total number of workers.
The average income in Kelowna, according to Statistics Canada, is $47,214.
Such an income is more conducive to being able to afford an average-priced condo at $355,000 or an average-priced townhouse at $461,000.
Read also pointed out that many buyers are couples who can afford an averagepriced
single-family home of $678,000 if their combined household income is an average $68,000 or higher.
Many people who own in the Okanagan have investment income as well as employment income, earn an income outside of the Valley by working in Alberta’s oil and gas sector or have retired or semi-retired here on money they made elsewhere, according to Read.
“The Okanagan can be unaffordable for some,” said Read.
“But many people still find a way to buy. This is a desirable location and that means higher prices and a busy market.”