BY DEREK ABMA, FINANCIAL POST DECEMBER 3, 2010 

Lower home prices and mortgage rates helped push down the costs of home ownership, says RBC.

OTTAWA — Owning a home in Canada became more affordable in recent months, according to the Royal Bank of Canada.

RBC Economics Research released a report Monday saying the proportion of pre-tax household income it takes to own a home declined in the third quarter of 2010 after a full year of deteriorating home-ownership affordability. Lower home prices and mortgage rates were the reasons for the recent improvement.

“The improvement in affordability during the third quarter has relieved some of the stress that had been mounting in Canada’s housing market over the past year,” said Robert Hogue, senior economist for RBC. “After appreciating rapidly during the strong rebound in resale activity last year and early this year, national home prices recently came off the burner and retreated modestly as market conditions cooled considerably through the spring and summer.”

RBC said it took 40.4% of household income, on average across the country, to own a bungalow between July and September. That was 2.4 percentage points lower than the second quarter.

The cost for owning a standard two-storey home fell 2.5 points to 46.3% on income, and the affordability rate for condominiums was down 1.4 points to 27.8%.

Looking at the percentage of household income needed to own bungalows in major markets across the country, it was 68.8% in Vancouver, 47.2% in Toronto, 41.7% in Montreal, 38.2% in Ottawa, 37.1% in Calgary and 32.7% in Edmonton.

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