Kelowna was ranked the 38th most expensive place to live in an international survey.
The sixth annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey compared 272 markets in Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States using a formula known as the median multiple, which takes a city‘s median house price and divides it by gross median household income.
Kelowna‘s median multiple is 5.9, placing it with four other Canadian cities as severely unaffordable.
Vancouver was ranked as the most unaffordable city in the world, with a multiple median of 9.3.
Also on survey list were Victoria (ninth), Abbotsford (25th) and Toronto (57th).
The ranking comes as no surprise to Kelowna realtors.
“I believe it,” said Jamie Briggs of Coldwell Banker Horizon Realty. “The sunshine tax is definitely still in effect in Kelowna.”
In last year‘s survey, Kelowna ranked 19th. The year before that, the city was 13th.
“House prices have come down,” said Briggs, “but, relative to income, they‘re still quite high.”
The survey put Kelowna‘s 2009 median house price at $314,900 and the median household income at $53,100.
Ellen Churchill, also from Coldwell Banker, said people in Kelowna think they can‘t afford to buy, but, in many cases, they can.
“It‘s just saving up the bucks for a down payment,” she said. “There‘s so much out there that can be affordable, you just have to be educated and know how to do it.”
With fixed rates as low as five per cent, on a mortgage of $350,000, that works out to about $1,500 a month, said Brenda Dilley, mortgage broker for Mortgage Alliance Homeline.
“That‘s about the same as what you are paying for rent per month anyways,” she said. “That‘s a shocker for a lot of people.”
By The Numbers
Most Affordable in Canada
Thunder Bay, Ont. 2.2
Windsor, Ont. 2.2
Moncton, N.B. 2.5
Saguenay, Que. 2.8
Saint John, N.B. 2.8
Least Affordable in the World
Vancouver 9.3
Sydney, Aus. 9.1
Sunshine Coast, Aus. 9.0
Darwin, Aus. 8.6
Gold Coast, Aus. 8.6
Least Affordable in Canada
Victoria 7.9
Abbotsford 6.6
Kelowna 5.9
Toronto 5.2
