Victorians spending more than half of their income on home ownership costs

Times Colonist- The cost of owning a single-family bungalow in Greater Victoria climbed for the fifth consecutive quarter, says a new housing affordability report from the Royal Bank of Canada.

According to RBC Economics, ownership costs — the proportion of median pre-tax household income required to service the cost of mortgage payments, property taxes and utilities — for a single-family bungalow in this city in the second quarter hit 50.5 per cent of household income. That was considerably above the national average of 42.9 per cent…

Victorians spending more than half of their income on home ownership costs

How Canadians are growing richer but deeper in debt

The Globe and Mail- Canadians are getting richer as stocks and house prices rise. Household net worth rose 1.3 per cent in the first quarter of the year, or $74-billion, to $6-trillion, Statistics Canada said today, as the value of assets eclipsed the rise in liabilities. “This follows a 1.8 per cent advance in the previous quarter,” the federal statistics gathering agency said. “Gains in the value of financial assets, especially equities, as well as increases in residential real estate contributed to the advance in net worth.”

Household debt also rose, particularly mortgages, Statistics Canada said. The ratio of household credit market debt-to-income now stands at 147 per cent, up from 144.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009…

How Canadians are growing richer but deeper in debt – The Globe and Mail

Second mortgages: Pile on the debt, pile on the risk

Financial Post- Second mortgages on homes are no longer seen as portents of financial doom. Though they are debts piled on top of existing first mortgages, they have become what people do to get by.

According to a study by the Vanier Institute of the Family, an Ottawa-based research organization, the average Canadian family carries consumer and mortgage debt equal to 145% of household income. That ratio could rise to 160% by the end of 2012, according to Bank of Canada data. Yet coping with family debt has made second mortgages seem almost sensible…

Second mortgages: Pile on the debt, pile on the risk

Home ownership costs to rise in Canada: RBC report

Vancouver Sun- Home ownership costs in Canada rose for the third straight quarter in early 2010, and those costs are going to get higher as interest rates rise this year, according a housing report released Tuesday by RBC Economics Research.

The RBC Housing Affordability measure, which identifies how much pre-tax household income is needed to own a home, rose nationally across all housing types in the first quarter of 2010.

The detached bungalow benchmark measure rose by 0.9 of a percentage point to 41.1 per cent, the standard townhouse inched up by 0.4 of a percentage point to 33 per cent, the standard condominium climbed by 0.5 of a percentage point up to 28.2 per cent and the standard two-storey home increased by 0.6 percentage points to 46.8 per cent…

Home ownership costs to rise in Canada: RBC report

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