Bulkley Valley and Lakes District residents will need over a third of their pre-tax income to buy a home.
That’s according to the 2024 Housing Affordability Indicator Index from the BC Northern Real Estate Board.
The report states the Northern BC Indicators provides a measure of the relative costs of home ownership by calculating the proportion of median household income required to service the cost of local taxes and user fees, utilities, and mortgage payments for the average-priced detached single-family home on a lot of one acre or less.
The Smithers rate sits at 39.4 per cent, about five points higher than the 34.6 per cent reported for Northern BC.
Our rate was only beaten by 100 Mile House at 63.2 per cent while the lowest was recorded in Kitimat at 24.1 per cent.
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation defines housing to be affordable when it costs less than 30% of a household’s before-tax income.
Below is a breakdown of what percent of a median household income is needed to finance home ownership across northern BC:
- 100 Mile House 63.2%
- Smithers 39.4%
- Williams Lake 38.2%
- Prince George 37.6%
- Terrace 37.1%
- Quesnel 35.6%
- Prince Rupert 31.7%
- Fort St. John 25.6%
- Kitimat 24.1%
The full report can be found here.
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