You’ll need to earn more than $230,000 if you want to buy a home in Vancouver

Despite a stabilizing of mortgage rates and a slightly lower stress test, the total income required to purchase an average home in Vancouver has risen from last month, one mortgage brokerage has found.

According to ratehub.ca, to pass the mortgage stress test of 7.62 per cent in March for an average home in Vancouver, you had to be earning $232,620 per year.

That figure is up by $2,270 from $230,350 in February.

“While mortgage rates stayed relatively flat month over month, home prices increased, causing affordability to worsen,” explained James Laird, Co-CEO of Ratehub.ca and president of CanWise mortgage lender.

The average home price in Vancouver rose by more than $13,000 from February to March, ratehub.ca found, to a total price of $1,196,800.

Ratehub.ca analyzed 13 cities across Canada, and found the annual income required to purchase a home increased in 12 of the 13.

“Halifax was the only city that saw improvement with $350 less income needed to purchase the average home. Home prices here were also down in this city by $1,600,” Laird adds.

Vancouver required the highest income in the country to purchase an average home, with Toronto coming in second. Buyers in that city need an annual income of $217,500 for an average home there now coming in at $1,113,600 in March.

Regina, however, was the most affordable major city analyzed by ratehub.ca. It found buyers needed just $71,850 per annum to pass the mortgage stress test.

The average home in Regina was $313,100 in March.