Saskatoon remains “seriously unaffordable” according to ” the 6th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey” 2010. Affordability is based on a multiplier, that is the years of the median income used to pay for the median priced house. “historically…. median house prices being generally 3.0 or less times median household incomes”. Saskatoon currently stands at 4.4 years of median income (down from 4.6 last year) enough to keep it “seriously unaffordable”. Here’s how many years income it costs to buy the median house elsewhere.
Least Affordable
Vancouver 9.3 years income
Kelowna 5.9 years income
Toronto 5.2 years income
Montreal 4.9 years income
Dublin 4.7 years income
Calgary 4.5 years income
Saskatoon 4.4 years income
Edmonton 4.1 years income
Ottawa, Denver, Washington DC 3.8 years income
Kingston, Tuscon Arizona!! Richmond Virginia, Spokane WA 3.7 years income
3.7 years median income = National Canadian Average
Halifax, Quebec City, Madison Wisconsin 3.6 years income
Regina 3.5 years income
Chicago 3.4 years income
Winnipeg 3.3 years income
Boise Idaho 3.0 years income
St. John NB, Minneapolis 2.8 years income
Green Bay, Kansas City 2.6 years income
Moncton 2.5 years income
Thunder Bay, Indianapolis 2.2 years income
Most Affordable
http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf Bit long, but interesting read, surprising some of the cities significantly cheaper than Saskatoon
Basically, save for Vancouver, Saskatoon is nearly as expensive as other most expensive markets in Canada, and in Saskatoon, it takes 0.7 years more income than the national median to buy a house, or 19% more than average, once income is accounted for. Makes the current local housing market seem unsustainable as the rest of Canada emerges from a recession – and Saskatoon continues to lay off, with anticipated “near term” job losses, and of course that large provincial deficit.
Good link to put Saskatoon housing prices in perspective
http://saskatoonhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2011/02/saskatoon-housing-bubble-charts-to.html