The Waterloo region – which includes the Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo areas and their multiple neighbourhoods – has become one of the priciest housing markets in Ontario, says a report from Wahi.*

Which locations stand out?

The Kitchener suburb of Doon tops the list as the priciest, with a median price of $1.025 million, and is also the province’s 22nd most expensive city. Households must bring in $250,000 per year before tax to afford the area, which can translate to a monthly mortgage payment of $5,200.

The region’s cheapest market, Central Kitchener, also happens to be home to most of the city’s neighbourhoods. Here, the median price is $701,000, requiring a total household income of $175,000

Source: Wahi

One among many unaffordable Ontario regions

The Waterloo region isn’t alone in this affordability issue. Only 19 of Ontario’s 245 local real estate markets are considered affordable for average-income-earning households (about $100,000).

Buyers should not give up

Wahi advises that buyers don’t give up on their search just because an area’s median home price is unattainable up to a certain income level.

They should keep in mind that the median home price is the middle of all transactions. So, in the case of Doon, for example, half of the area’s sold homes went for under $1.025 million.

“The fact that only a handful of cities — mostly small — are affordable to households with even above-average earnings truly highlights Ontario’s affordability crisis,” Wahi’s CEO, Benjy Katchen, mentions. “However, the new Roadmap to Housing Affordability also puts the spotlight on local housing markets that homebuyers might not have thought about considering before.”

*The report is based on Wahi’s interactive tool, Roadmap to Housing Affordability: Ontario Edition, which shows where buyers might be able to afford.