Mortgage debt soars while starter homes get out of reach for many Canadians

While incomes in Canada have risen 76 per cent since 2004, the price of a new home at the lower end of the market has risen by 265 per cent, the analysis said.

“Brand-new family-sized starter homes are over twice as expensive relative to income as they were 20 years ago. And unless governments get serious about bringing down the cost of homebuilding, it will take another 20 years to fix,” economist Mike Moffat said in the report.

The report added that even if home prices stopped rising entirely, it would take 25 years for the price-to-income ratio to reach the levels they were at in 2004.