Of all communities in Northern B.C. with at least 75 detached single-family home sales per year, 100 Mile House was the least affordable in 2018.
According to the BC Northern Real Estate Board (BCNREB), affordability worsened slightly last year in most northern communities, but only 100 Mile House had a housing affordability indicator significantly above 30 per cent.
The housing affordability indicators, calculated annually by BCNREB, estimate the proportion of median household income required to cover the major costs associated with home ownership.
“These include mortgage costs, municipal taxes and fees, and utilities for the average single-family home. The higher the measure, the more difficult it is to afford a home,” said a BCNREB release on April 16.
“For example, an affordability measure of 30 per cent means that home ownership costs, including mortgage payments, utilities, and property taxes for a given year take up 30 per cent of a typical household’s pre-tax annual income.”
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has also stated that “… housing is considered ‘affordable’ if it costs less than 30 per cent of a household’s before-tax income.”
In 2018 the housing affordability indicator for 100 Mile House was 47.2 per cent.
BCNREB attributed the housing affordability issue to low income levels.
“This is the chiefly result of median household income being around 54 per cent of that of Northern B.C.,” the release said.
According to the most recent Statistics Canada census, in 2015 the median total income of households in 100 Mile House was $43,136.
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Kitimat remained the most affordable community in Northern B.C., with an indicator of just 20.6 per cent.
By comparison, BCNREB noted, the indicator for the Vancouver area was 118.9 per cent.
100 Mile House also experienced a slight drop in real estate sales, compared to slight increases for other communities in the Cariboo Region at the beginning of the year, according to BCNREB’s latest quarterly report.
From January to the end of March 2019, a total of 68 properties of all types worth $16.6 million were sold in 100 Mile House, compared to 80 properties last year worth $15.8 million.
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