RBC Economics report finds housing costs in Edmonton and Calgary largely flat.

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Homes got slightly more affordable in Canada, earlier this year, even amid the typically busy spring market. RBC Economics published a report in September pointing to a key affordability metric showing a modest improvement in the second quarter (April to June) over the previous quarter.

Measuring ownership costs as a percentage of median household income, affordability reached 52.8 per cent at the end of June. That is an improvement of 0.4 per cent from the end of March.

Ownership costs were mostly stable from April to the end of June. RBC noted that Vancouver and Toronto led declines in housing costs, while Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg experienced modest price increases.

Calgary and Edmonton were largely flat — though costs were down slightly quarter over quarter.

Calgary’s ownership costs as a percentage of income were 41.3 per cent in the second quarter, down 0.4 per cent.

Yet costs are still above the long-term average of 39.7 per cent, RBC noted.

By comparison, Canada’s most unaffordable market, Vancouver, had a metric of 83.9 per cent. It saw the second-largest quarter-over-quarter percentage decrease in Canada at one per cent, resulting in one of the best — though still slight — improvements in affordability.

Toronto saw the largest percentage decline at 1.2 percentage points, reaching 64.1 per cent by the end of June.

Edmonton continued as one of Canada’s most affordable major markets. Its ownership costs as a percentage of median income were 36.8 per cent in the second quarter of this year. That is 0.3 percentage points lower.

Even so, the metric sits above the long-term average of 32.8 per cent.

RBC noted that the elevated metric reveals even buyers there face affordability hurdles, potentially preventing market entry.