Report shows work hours needed to keep rent affordable in Canada

Another day, another housing report! A new report has figured out just how many hours you need to work, per month, to keep rent affordable in communities across Canada. And while some cities and areas are keeping prices low, others are, let’s just say, a little pricier.

Coming from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the report offers a different way to picture affordability. Affordability is generally defined as spending no more than 30% of gross income on monthly rent, according to the report. But instead of the 30% on rent rule, the CMHC went ahead and figured out how many hours, total, it would take one person to afford an average 2-bedroom rental in the city. Of course, this is using the average hourly wage of that city.

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For reference, the CMHC put the baseline for full-time work at 150 hours a month (37.5 hours a week). So, anything above that they’re considering unaffordable.

Anyway, here are some standout spots from the report, rounded to the nearest hour:

1. Vancouver- 198 hours
2. Toronto- 178 hours
3. Halifax- 163 hours
4. Victoria- 163 hours
5. Ottawa- 147 hours
6. Calgary- 137 hours
7. Edmonton- 131 hours
8. Montreal- 106 hours

Yeah, there’s some pretty serious variation in the numbers for what it takes to keep rent affordable in Canada. But hey, Canada’s housing and rental markets have been getting zany for a while, so we’re not too surprised.