28 March 2019

According to RBC, such improvements could be explained by lower real estate prices amid the OSFI’s B-20 guideline, including a new stress test for uninsured mortgages, and other rules changes aimed at cooling the markets.

However, in spite of the overall relief, RBC warns that homeownership still remains just a dream in certain cities.

“The relief we’ve seen in the fourth-quarter nationally was hardly seen in Vancouver and Toronto,” – RBC economists Craig Wright and Robert Hogue noted. “Housing affordability is still at poor levels in these markets with Montreal showing stronger pressure as well.”

RBC says the level of housing affordability in the fourth quarter of 2018 reached 84.7% in Vancouver, followed by Toronto (66.1%) and Montreal (44.5%).