Income Required to Buy a Home in Greater Vancouver May 2007

I live in North Vancouver and it never ceases to amaze me how hot the real estate market is. To put it into perspective for readers outside of Vancouver following are some sobering statistics:

Property Type - Single detached
Benchmark Price – $ 653,616
Annual Income Required – $ 172,299

Property Type – Townhouse
Benchmark Price – $ 406,676
Annual Income Required – $ 108,005

Property Type – Apartment
Benchmark Price – $ 331,519
Annual Income Required – $ 88,016

Occupation Average Annual Income

Early Childhood Educator $ 32,760
Firefighter $ 57,540
Nurse (Registered) $ 55,237
BC MLA $ 75,400
Police Officer $ 54,639
REALTOR® $ 50,000
School Teacher (Elem) $ 53,222

So unless an elementary school teacher marries both a politician and a Police Officer there is not much chance of him/her buying a single family home in Vancouver.