If you’re looking for a place to live, it is actually relatively cheap to stay in Vancouver.
According to the latest census data released September 11 by Statistics Canada, the highest average monthly cost for shelter in the country was in Toronto at $1,366 per month.
That’s 30% above the national average ($1,050), 18% above the B.C. average ($1,156) and 5.5% above the average monthly cost in Metro Vancouver ($1,294).
Statistics Canada’s average calculation includes the costs of electricity, heat, water and other municipal fees, as well as mortgage payments and condominium fees that homeowners may have to pay or rent paid by tenants.
For most homeowners in the country, their mortgage was one of the largest components of their shelter costs. According to the census, in 2011, 59% of Canadian homeowners had a mortgage, and, on average, they had shelter costs three times higher compared with homeowners without a mortgage.
That difference is fairly large in Toronto, where owners with mortgages have average costs of $2,009 compared with $705 for owners without a mortgage.
The gap, however, is larger in Metro Vancouver. Mortgaged homeowners had average costs of $2,031 per month, compared with non-mortgaged homeowners with average shelter costs of only $540 per month.
Rising housing prices in both markets have contributed to the large mortgage payments being paid by Vancouverites and Torontonians alike. But affordability changed little between 2006 and 2011 in Vancouver.
According to the data, the proportion of residents in Metro Vancouver paying more than 30% of their income has inched up only slightly to 33.2% in 2011 from 32.88% in 2006. Most of the other major cities in B.C. and across the country saw more significant increases.
Metro Vancouver still has the highest proportion of residents paying a third of their income for housing. But renters, not owners, face the most significant financial challenges.
In B.C., 45% of renters pay more than 30% of their income for shelter, compared with only 23% of homeowners.
But the struggle to pay for shelter is not the worst in Vancouver. It’s in Kelowna, where 49% of renters pay more than a third of their income for a place to live.•
