Calgary Homebuyers See Lower Income Requirements in 2024, While Other Cities Experience Mixed Trends

 

In 2024, Calgary homebuyers needed a lower annual income to qualify for a mortgage on an average-priced home compared to the previous year. The report showed that buyers in Calgary saw a reduction in income needed to qualify for a mortgage with a 20% down payment and a five-year fixed mortgage.

 

At the beginning of 2024, a Calgary buyer needed to earn about $116,000 a year to qualify for a mortgage with a 5.71% interest rate, factoring in the federal stress test (which required the buyer to afford a 7.71% rate). By December 2024, that same buyer needed only $113,500 a year, even though the average price of homes in Calgary had increased. At the start of the year, the average home price was $572,400, and by the end of 2024, it had risen to over $605,000.

 

Other cities saw similar trends. In Toronto, buyers needed $12,400 less in annual income, despite a slight drop in home prices. In Vancouver, buyers needed $12,100 less, with an income requirement of $216,700 to purchase a home priced at $1,171,500.

 

On the other hand, Edmonton experienced an increase in income required by the end of 2024. Buyers there needed $83,330, up by $1,050 from earlier in the year, to qualify for a mortgage on a home priced around $435,000.

 

A city in New Brunswick, experienced the biggest increase, with a $6,130 rise in income requirements to $73,640, partly due to a significant $54,000 jump in average home prices, which reached $325,000.