News Update: CTV News – November 21st

Alex Lavender goes on CTV Atlantic to discuss how interest rates have stabilized, buyers need to meet higher income requirements and carefully budget for all costs associated with homeownership.

Hafsa Arif
If it feels like owning a home in Halifax has slipped out of reach. The right-leaning Fraser Institute’s report suggests you’re not imagining it.

Alex Wahlen
What we see right across the country is that affordability is declining again for those who own and for those who rent. We’ve seen massive population increases and relatively stagnant growth.

Hafsa Arif
Income for the last 10 years. Owning a Home has become more difficult, and for those who already do, shouldering the financial burden has been getting harder. Across Atlantic Canada’s largest cities, mortgage payments now take anywhere from 27% in Fredericton up to Halifax’s 52% of a median family’s income.

Alex Wahlen
In this region, we have stagnant incomes combined with rising costs. There are several government policies driving this problem when it comes to constraining supply through regulations, taxes, fees and land use guidelines.

Hafsa Arif
Mortgage broker Alex Lavender sees the strain every day, especially as the price of homes in the city goes up.

Alex Lavender
About $25,000 of income gets you about $100,000 of mortgage money. So someone buying a four or $500,000 house needs about 100 to $125,000 of income for a 5% down payment.

Hafsa Arif
Even with interest rates, though they’ve stabilized, they’re still far higher than what buyers were used to just five years ago.

Alex Lavender
The high 3% range today, maybe the low 4% range. And I think a normal range would be about two and a half to three and a half percent, which would help a little bit for affordability. But house prices are the big thing that’s holding people back,

Hafsa Arif
Even for those able to enter the market, lavender cautions that the costs don’t end with the mortgage.

Alex Lavender
You’ve got your property taxes, your heating costs, water insurance, etc. You just have to really budget in and predict where those might go, also now.

Hafsa Arif
I spoke with people around the city today who did not want to appear on camera, but told me, none of this comes as a surprise. In recent years, many say they’ve just been trying to keep up, juggling rising bills one after another.