Canadian real estate affordability deteriorated so fast, it will delay buyers by years. National Bank of Canada (NBC) crunched the numbers on how long it would take to save a down payment in Q2 2021. Not buy the home, but to just have the minimum required down payment to get a mortgage. Over one quarter, home buyers in some markets saw the time needed to save extend by years. That was on top of a timeline that already took up to three and a half decades to save the bare minimum down payment.

Canadian Months To Save A Down Payment
Today we’re looking at how long it takes to save the minimum down payment to buy non-condo housing. The savings are using 10% of the median gross household income for each region. Non-condo housing means any single-family dwelling (e.g. detached, semi, town, etc.).

The length of time is then expressed in years, with a small catch. For the time to be true, incomes need to keep pace with home prices for the whole period. The last part is obviously unrealistic, but not much more unrealistic than expecting 30 years of savings to buy a home, right? More likely home prices fall, or absurd inflation causes incomes to rise in line with prices. The latter sounds better but is usually so disastrous it causes the former as well — making it much worse. Got it? On to the data…read more.