You now need to make $160K a year to buy a house in Toronto

The dream of owning a home in Toronto continues to move further and further out of reach for the majority of residents, according to analysts, with roughly 90 per cent of all earners making too little to reasonably even afford a mortgage.

Mortgage rate comparison firm RateSupermarket.ca calculates that, as of right now, the average household income required to buy an average-sized house in the city sits around $160,000.

Such an annual salary (or two combined $80K salaries) would put one's household income within the top 10 per cent of earners in Toronto and the top five per cent of all Canadians based on 2016 Census data.

RateSupermarket determined this based on Zoocasa's most-recently reported benchmark house price for the area of $873,100, as well as an average mortgage rate figure of 3.25 percent "to reflect the majority of Canadian's experience."

Only Vancouver is more expensive for buyers right now than Toronto, followed by Victoria, B.C., Hamilton and Kitchener. Image via RateSupermarket.ca.

The firm also accounted for $10,000 in mothly debt, a monthly vehicle payment of $300 and a 20 per cent downpayment on the house with a 25-year amortization period.

"From there, we plugged in Gross Household Income in $10,000 increments until we could afford the benchmark house price in each city," explains the company.

"For example, in Vancouver the benchmark house price is $1,441,000... your household income would need to be over $240,000 a year to afford to buy this house."

Ouch. Vancouver takes the cake in this particular ranking, and by a long shot.

Here's the full breakdown of how much you'd need to earn per household to buy a home as of early 2019 in the following Canadian markets:

• Vancouver: House price: $1,441,000. Household Income needed: $240,000
• Toronto: House price: $873,100. Household Income needed: $160,000
• Victoria: House price: $741,000. Household Income needed: $140,000
• Hamilton: House price: $630,000. Household Income needed: $120,000
• Kitchener-Waterloo: House price: $523,720. Household Income needed: $110,000
• Calgary: House price: $467,600. Household Income needed: $100,000.
• Ottawa-Gatineau: House price: $444,500. Household Income needed: $90,000
• London: House price: $426,236. Household Income needed: $90,000
• Montreal: House price: $375,000. Household Income needed: $80,000
• Edmonton: House price: $372,100. Household Income needed: $80,000
• Saskatoon: House price: $301,900. Household Income needed: $70,000
• Regina: House price: $275,900. Household Income needed: $70,000

by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO