Compared to the rest of Ontario, Sudbury’s home prices a bargain

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While home prices in Greater Sudbury rose dramatically in the past year, the city is still one of the cheapest places to buy in Ontario.

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In fact, according to the annual housing affordability index published this week by Re/Max Canada, Sudbury is the second most affordable city in Ontario, with an average price of $403,000 in 2021.

Only Thunder Bay – at $315,000 – was cheaper among Ontario’s major cities.

Coming in third was Windsor, with an average price of roughly $542,000.

What’s more, Sudburians are – on average – paying just over 40 per cent of their monthly income on mortgages — much lower than residents in London (62 per cent), Kitchener-Waterloo (63 per cent), and Hamilton and Barrie (76 per cent).

The average homeowner in the Greater Toronto Area is paying all of their monthly income on the mortgage, the report said.

In Thunder Bay, that number is 29.78 per cent while in Windsor it is 54.18 per cent.

Re/Max Canada also reported that so far in 2022, the average price of a home in Sudbury went from $403,000 to $498,939 – an increase of 23.85 per cent compared to last year. It is expecting the average price to remain flat for the rest of the year.

Staying in Sudbury, Remax said the average after-tax income here was $71,852.50 in 2022; the average monthly income was $5,987.71; the average down payment (based on 20 per cent of a home’s selling price, was $99,787.80; the average mortgage was $399,151.20; and the average monthly mortgage payment was $2,399.

The Sudbury Real Estate Board, meanwhile, reported the number of homes sold through it MLS System of the Sudbury Real Estate Board totaled 327 units in June 2022.

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“This was a substantial decline of 15.3 per cent from June 2021,” the boards said.

Home sales were 1.9 per cent below the five-year average and 8.2 per cent above the 10-year average for the month of June.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 1,613 units over the first six months of the year.

“This was a significant decrease of 14.7 per cent from the same period in 2021,” the board noted.

The MLS Home Price Index (HPI) tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS HPI composite/single-family benchmark price was $453,900 in June 2022, a sizable gain of 20.9 per cent compared to June 2021.

The average price of homes sold in June 2022 was $458,727, up by 10.9 per cent from June 2021.

The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $492,754, an increase of 24.2 per cent from the first six months of 2021.

The dollar value of all home sales in June 2022 was $150 million, a moderate decrease of 6 per cent from the same month in 2021.

The number of new listings was up by 10.3 per cent from June 2021. There were 555 new residential listings in June 2022. This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of June in more than five years.

New listings were 10.9% above the five-year average and 7.8 per cent above the 10-year average for the month of June.

Active residential listings numbered 593 units on the market at the end of June, a modest gain of 3.3 per cent from the end of June 2021.

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Active listings were 32 per cent below the five-year average and 54.6% below the 10-year average for the month of June.

Months of inventory numbered 1.8 at the end of June 2022, up from the 1.5 months recorded at the end of June 2021 and below the long-run average of 4.6 months for this time of year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.

Nationally, the Re/Max report also revealed that 68 per cent of Canadians are willing to make at least one sacrifice to buy a home they can afford. The most common concession is relocation (64 per cent).

And based on average residential selling price, Brandon, Man., ranked as the most affordable city in Canada for the first half of 2022, replacing top-ranked Winnipeg, Man. from 2021. The nation’s runners-up are Regina, Sask., St. John’s, Nfld., and Red Deer, Alta.

According to the report, 43 per cent of Canadians surveyed said the high price of real estate in their area was a barrier to entry into the market. That’s up one per cent from last year.

“Despite affordability challenges across the cost-of-living spectrum, Canadians are still eager to engage in the housing market — even if it means making some sacrifices in the short-term to achieve affordable home ownership,” said Christopher Alexander, RE/MAX Canada president, in a written statement.

“While we wait for governments to implement a national housing strategy to boost Canada’s supply of affordable housing, in the short-term the market is starting to cool and balance itself out, bringing some much-needed relief from the sky-high prices that we experienced during much of the pandemic. This trend is largely being driven by higher interest rates.”

with files from Postmedia

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Twitter: @SudburyStar