It’s not just Vancouver where house prices are way out of line, and it’s not just a Canadian comparison that makes the cost of real estate in BC look so bad.
    Four out of four BC cities included in an international survey earned rankings of “severely unaffordable.” Vancouver was judged to be the third-worst of 325 cities in developed countries world-wide. The number of years of annual income required to by a home — between 5.9 and 7.1 — in Victoria, Abbotsford and Kelowna was also found to be worrisomely high.
    The problem is not Canada-wide. The national average for the ratio of income to price was just over three, the level at which homes are considered affordable.
    For a more complete breakdown, click here to read my Vancouver Sun column. Or click here to link to the survey itself, which was released by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Winnipeg. Or click here for links to a series of my earlier columns that look at factors driving the cost of housing in BC.

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