Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee
Vancouver at near 100%!! lol
Eating's overrated.
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To be fair, that's median income and the median residence, which understates the resources home buyers have for a few reasons:
1) With a ~65% home ownership rate, the median income would normally be buying near the bottom of the market rather than the median.
2) It excludes wealth (much of it real estate generated). So parents who bought decades ago are now giving their kids enough money that they can buy without the income to support the normal level of mortgage for what they're buying.
3) Income is based on the current context, whereas mortgage payments for much of the population are based on economics years ago. So anyone with existing equity from 5/10/15+ years ago is in a very different position than someone buying at current prices with no equity.
Still, I think that chart shows that as crazy as the current situation feels, it's certainly not unprecedented. And as much as people say that population growth will prevent a big correction and/or stagnation, I'm not sure that's the conclusion I'd reach based on history. Even if property prices just stagnate, income levels will tend to rise and help with affordability.