By Matt Nemeth

Housing affordability a major concern for Canadians

Jul 3, 2017 | 5:18 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A new report suggests a lot of Canadians don’t think housing is affordable in our country, whether it be buying or renting a property.

Conducted by EKOS Research the survey finds that belief is shared pretty evenly across different income levels too.

The poll shows just over two in five Canadians believe housing is not affordable for them, while about half of those surveyed who consider themselves poor or working class believe that the cost of local housing is beyond their means.

That rate drops slightly to 38 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, for those who identified themselves as middle or upper class.

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“It’s a deeply troubling finding that in certain portions of Canada, either geographically or societally, that this is a crisis level,” said Frank Graves, president of EKOS Research.

The federal government has promised a national housing strategy as part of a larger strategy to reduce poverty, but Medicine Hat – Cardston – Warner Conservative Member of Parliament Glen Motz says talk is cheap.

“That’s an easy thing to do is say ‘Ya we’re going to dump a bunch of money into something and we’re going to do it five years, six years from now’,” he said over the phone Monday. “That doesn’t necessarily help address the issues right at the moment.”

When it came to major cities, only six per cent of respondents in Toronto and two per cent in Vancouver said they believe housing was affordable. In Calgary the number was 11 per cent, and in Montreal it was 22 per cent.

Medicine Hat Real Estate Board President Brooklyn Kalista says fortunately for those buying a home in the Gas City, the benchmark price is quite reasonable.

“Where we’re sitting at for May is at $268,650 for our average home sale price,” said Kalista.

That price will fluctuate based on how active the market is adds Kalista, but if you compare it to some other cities that are close by it’s a pretty good number.

“If we’re looking at, say, Saskatoon and the Lethbridge markets they’re hovering in those $290,000s so we’re not too far off from where they’re at,” says Kalista. “Then again you can go to Calgary, they’re still in that $400,000 range, so I think what we offer is comfortable living that’s quality and it’s affordable.”

Making things even more interesting when it comes to the housing market is the Bank of Canada which has been hinting at a hike of its key interest rate.

If that happens, home-owners with a variable mortgage could end up paying a lot more in interest.

However, Kalista is optimistic it won’t have a major impact on the local market.

“We’re lucky in Medicine Hat,” Kalista says. “We don’t have big booms and we generally don’t feel the really low lows — we have hiccups here and there. So I’m hopeful with the slight increase that it’s not going to be anything that’s going to affect our market in a negative way too much.”

Some economists believe the first rate hike from the BoC could happen as soon as July 12, which is the next time the BoC will review its key interest rate target.

The results of the EKOS Research telephone poll of 5,658 Canadians, conducted between June 1 and 19, are considered accurate to within 1.3 percentage points 19 times out of 20.