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Is your salary enough to buy a home in these Canadian cities? Here’s how much you needed to earn to qualify for a mortgage in April 2025, compared to March.
April marked another chilly month for Canadian home sales, but there were perks in store for those actively on the house hunt. Home prices continue to soften in many of Canada’s largest urban centres, leading to an overall improvement in affordability in just over half of the cities.
This is according to Ratehub.ca’s most recent Affordability Report, a monthly snapshot of market conditions across Canada. The analysis looks at national real estate data, changes to mortgage rates, and the mortgage stress test, measuring how affordability evolves in the past month. It defines affordability as the amount of income a home buyer would need to earn to qualify for a mortgage on the average-priced home in their city, along with changes to monthly mortgage payments.
Unlike previous months, where decreases to mortgage rates were a major factor, April conditions were mainly impacted by drops to the average home price. This was evident in seven of the 13 markets. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), plummeting home sales and building supply are making their mark on property values in many markets; transactions were down 9.8% year over year across the nation, while the number of homes listed for sale at the end of the month increased by 14.3% compared to the same time frame in 2024.
As a result, the sales-to-new-listings ratio (SNLR), a measure which determines the level of competition in a marketplace, dipped to 46.6%, compared to 46.8% in March. That’s just shy of an official buyers’ market. CREA considers a ratio between 45% and 65% to indicate a balanced market, with below and above that threshold indicating buyers’ and sellers’ markets, respectively. And when the SNLR lingers on the buyers’ end of the spectrum, prices fall. In April, the average dropped 3.9% on an annual basis, to $679,866.
Mortgage rates, meanwhile, kept largely stagnant; while fixed mortgage rates were discounted in April’s early days, bond yields have remained elevated, as tariff turmoil causes investors to eschew U.S.-based debt assets. Variable mortgage rates also remained unchanged, as the Bank of Canada opted to leave its trend-setting overnight lending rate unchanged at 2.75% in its most recent rate announcement on April 16. That resulted in the average five-year fixed mortgage rate and stress test used in the study staying the same, at 4.38% and 6.38%, respectively.
Let’s take a look at how this affects Canadian home buyers across Canada.
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The chart below shows how affordability evolved between March 2025 and April 2025, in Canada’s main housing markets, based on the income required to qualify for a mortgage. Income required is based on the stress test rates of 6.38% in both March and April, along with a mortgage rate of 4.38%.
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| City | March average home prices | April average home prices | Change in home prices | March average mortgage payments | April average mortgage payments | Change in monthly mortgage payments | March income required | April income required | Change in income required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton | $811,000 | $801,400 | -$9,600 | $4,115 | $4,066 | -$49 | $168,300 | $166,500 | -$1,800 |
| Toronto | $1,016,900 | $1,009,400 | -$7,500 | $5,160 | $5,122 | -$38 | $207,250 | $205,850 | -$1,400 |
| Vancouver | $1,190,900 | $1,184,600 | -$6,300 | $6,043 | $6,011 | -$32 | $240,160 | $238,970 | -$1,190 |
| Fredericton | $335,900 | $333,700 | -$2,200 | $1,704 | $1,693 | -$11 | $78,420 | $78,000 | -$420 |
| St. John’s | $370,500 | $369,400 | -$1,100 | $1,880 | $1,874 | -$6 | $84,960 | $84,760 | -$200 |
| Calgary | $583,400 | $583,000 | -$400 | $2,960 | $2,958 | -$2 | $125,250 | $125,170 | -$80 |
| Edmonton | $431,300 | $431,100 | -$200 | $2,188 | $2,187 | -$1 | $96,470 | $96,430 | -$40 |
| Winnipeg | $384,600 | $385,300 | $700 | $1,951 | $1,955 | $4 | $87,640 | $87,770 | $130 |
| Ottawa | $626,200 | $631,200 | $5,000 | $3,177 | $3,203 | $26 | $133,350 | $134,300 | $950 |
| Halifax | $557,000 | $563,000 | $6,000 | $2,826 | $2,857 | $31 | $120,240 | $121,400 | $1,160 |
| Victoria | $891,000 | $897,300 | $6,300 | $4,521 | $4,553 | $32 | $183,430 | $184,620 | $1,190 |
| Montreal | $568,600 | $574,900 | $6,300 | $2,885 | $2,917 | $32 | $122,450 | $123,640 | $1,190 |
| Regina | $326,300 | $335,400 | $9,100 | $1,656 | $1,702 | $46 | $76,600 | $78,330 | $1,730 |
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While the overall average Canadian home price dropped in April, some markets are experiencing hotter demand than others, leading to stickier home prices. The largest price declines took place in Canada’s most expensive housing markets, which, due to steep barriers to entry, tend to be most affected by cooler buyer demand. According to Ratehub.ca’s analysis, the markets with the largest declines were clustered in Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe region, as well as in British Columbia.
Hamilton has been absorbing deep declines in home sales over the spring months; according to the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB), April sales were well below typical levels, with the months of supply reaching a high not seen since 2009. Sales were down 26% year over year, leading to an SNLR of 39%. That’s well into buyers’ market territory. The average price in Hamilton fell by $9,600 month over month, to $801,400. As a result, the annual income required to qualify for a mortgage fell by $1,800, and the average monthly mortgage payment dropped by $49 to $4,066.
Would-be home buyers remain firmly on the sidelines in Toronto, due to ongoing tariff uncertainty and still-high prices. It’s likely market conditions won’t improve in Canada’s largest city until buyers gain more economic certainty, and interest rates fall further. According to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), sales were down by 23.3% year over year in April, while new inventory ramped up by 8.1%. That’s had a pull-down effect on Toronto’s typically sticky home price, which dipped 4.1% from 2024 to $1,009,400. That’s a $7,500 drop compared to March. The required annual income to buy in the city fell by $1,400, along with a $38 dip in the monthly average mortgage payment, to $5,122.
Vancouver home sales also plummeted on an annual basis, as high prices and economic uncertainty prompt buyers to hold off on purchase decisions. According to the Greater Vancouver Realtors (GVR), transactions decreased 23.6% in April 2025 compared to 2024, and remaining 28.2% below the 10-year seasonal average. While new listings declined by 3.4% on an annual basis, active listings have surpassed 16,000 for the first time since 2014. As a result, the average Vancouver home price decreased by $6,300 month over month, to $1,184,600. A buyer in the city would need to earn $1,190 less than they did in April to purchase a property, while the average monthly mortgage payment decreased by $32 to $6,011.
Six of 13 cities saw affordability worsen in April, and it was a mixed bag in terms of market characteristics. While home prices increased in several comparably affordable cities—which tend to see the largest swings in affordability due to their lower price point—some expensive markets, such as Victoria, continued to see affordability erode.
While home sales have dropped on an annual basis in the City or Regina, down 13% with 365 transactions, the Saskatchewan Realtors Association (SRA) points out this remains 26% over the 10-year average. Meanwhile, new listings are on the decline, down 4% year over year, and remaining 7% below the 10-year average. This was enough to push prices higher, with the average in the city increasing $9,100 on a monthly basis to $335,400. The required annual income to qualify for a mortgage in Regina increased by $1,730 compared to in March, with the average monthly mortgage payment up $42 to $1,702.
The City of Montreal continues to experience booming real estate demand. The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) reports that April sales were comparable to the two years preceding the pandemic, with transactions up 10% year over year. With seller-friendly conditions prevailing, home prices are on the rise. The average Montreal home price increased by $6,300 month over month, to $574,900. As a result, the required annual income to buy increased by $1,190 compared to March, with the average mortgage payment up $32 to $2,917.
Home sales in Victoria saw modest increases in April, up 4.7% from March, though down from 2024 levels by 4.7%, according to the Victoria Real Estate Board (VREB). While a 13% increase in new inventory kept conditions largely balanced for buyers, price growth hasn’t lost steam. The average in the city increased by $6,300 month over month, to $897,300. That resulted in a Victoria home buyer needing to earn $1,190 more a year to afford a home, compared to in March, with the average monthly mortgage payment rising by $32 to $4,553.
Ratehub.ca’s affordability report is a short-term look at how affordability conditions change, based on monthly shifts in home price, and mortgage rates. The study uses the average required annual income to qualify for a mortgage in each market to rank the above 13 cities. Other factors, such as the mortgage stress test rate, are also part of the calculation. Want to crunch your own affordability numbers? Check out the MoneySense mortgage affordability calculator.
The long-term outlook for mortgage rates, and the overall economy for that matter, remains as clear as mud. This is because the tariff narrative coming out of the United States is constantly evolving and even when the news is positive, markets remain highly volatile. This week it’s about the announced delay for tariffs imposed on the EU. Next week? Who knows–.
This has led to rising bond yields (which lenders use to price their fixed mortgage rates) despite initially plunging in early April. Investors have become less interested in American-backed debt assets, such as the 10-year U.S. Treasury. As this asset typically acts as the global debt benchmark, any time its yield rises (as it does when investor demand drops), it has an upward effect on benchmark Canadian yields, too. The Government of Canada five-year yield has remained in the 2.8%-2.9% range in recent weeks, putting firm upward pressure on fixed mortgage rate pricing.
Meanwhile, the most recent April inflation numbers are likely to lead to another Bank of Canada (BoC) rate hold. While the headline number came in at a promising 1.7%, that masked troubling trends among the core measures of the consumer price index, which rose above 3%. This indicates that much of inflation’s drop is due to temporary effects, such as lower gas prices and the removal of the consumer carbon tax, while other basket items, such as groceries, are inching higher.
As the BoC has a mandate to keep inflation within a 2% target, which is considered neither stimulative or restrictive to the economy, it’s likely it’ll hold off on cutting its benchmark rate further. That is, as long as these core measures keep leading inflation, meaning variable mortgage rates (priced based off of the prime rate) are unlikely to change in the near term.
This is an unpaid article that contains useful and relevant information. It was written by a content partner based on its expertise and edited by MoneySense.
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