Income needed to buy a home in Ottawa drops in July
With inflation cooling, the Bank of Canada is starting to cut interest rates, which means that buying a home in Canada is becoming a bit easier.
After years of saving, Josh Cardillo will soon be able to call himself a homeowner.
- Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
"I'm turning 30 in a couple of months and decided it was time to buy my first home," said Cardillo.
It won't be cheap — the Ottawa resident recently closing the deal on a $670,000 home.
"It's a little scary, just going from a rent that was a lot more affordable to a mortgage that's going to be $1,500 more than what I've been paying for rent," he said.
For homebuyers entering the market, some relief may be on the way as new numbers from Ratehub show the income needed to buy a home dipped in July for 13 major Canadian cities. The salary threshold dropped by more than $5,000 in Canada's two priciest markets, Toronto and Vancouver.
In Ottawa, the average income needed to buy a home was $129,650 in July, down from $131,210 in June. It's a trend many are keen to see.
"The income has dropped because the interest rates have dropped," said Frank Napolitano, managing partner at Mortgage Brokers Ottawa. "With interest rates coming down a half per cent now, we've seen fixed rates come down in that neighborhood close to a half per cent as well. That's made a big difference."
While the average cost of home prices also dropped for most of the country, Ottawa prices increased slightly, up $1,200 between June and July, more than offset by the interest rate cuts.
"If interest rates come down, as much as we hope they will over the next six and 12 months, then you'll see that that number will continue to come down as well," said Napolitano.
And if those rates do indeed come down, it's big news for Cardillo, who is set to take the keys in October.
"Hopefully they continue to go down and not up," he said. "Definitely huge that interest rates are going down and we're going to do a variable mortgage. So, to see interest rates going down, that's obviously going to help my monthly payments."
The next interest rate announcement is scheduled for early September.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bloc MPs will vote confidence in Liberal government next week: Blanchet
The Conservatives' first shot at toppling the Liberal government is likely doomed to fail, after Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet told reporters his MPs will vote confidence in the government.
Here's why you should get all your vaccines as soon as possible
With all these shots, some Canadians may have questions about the benefit of each vaccine, whether they should get every shot and how often to get them, and if it's safe to get them all at once or if they should space them out.
Teen faces new charge in Sask. high school arson attack
A 14-year-old student who allegedly set her classmate on fire is facing a new charge.
'I'm here for the Porsche': Video shows brazen car theft in Mississauga
Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.
First-of-its-kind facility hopes to launch Canada into rare earths market
A Saskatchewan organization is breaking ground as the first to commercially produce rare earth metals in North America.
Jeremy Dutcher makes Canadian music history
Jeremy Dutcher made Canadian music history Tuesday night by winning a second Polaris Music Prize for his second album, Motewolonuwok.
Exploding electronic devices kill 20, wound 450 in second day of explosions in Lebanon
Lebanon's health ministry said Wednesday that at least 20 people were killed and 450 others wounded by exploding electronic devices in multiple regions of the country. The explosions came a day after an apparent Israeli attack targeting pagers used by Hezbollah killed at least 12 and wounded nearly 3,000. Here are the latest updates.
RCMP feared they didn't have enough evidence to hold terror suspect sought by U.S.
Court documents filed in the case of a Pakistani man arrested in Quebec for an alleged plot to kill Jews in New York City reveal the RCMP didn't have enough evidence to hold him in Canada.
Federal government to further limit number of international students
The federal government will be further limiting the number of international students permitted to enter Canada next year. It’s the government’s latest immigration-related measure to address Canadians' ongoing housing and affordability concerns.