Winnipeggers find it harder to afford rent, mortgages as housing prices increase

Families spend a quarter of their annual income on rent, and to buy a typical home on the Winnipeg market, a family needs to save up over 13 months’ worth of income.

A recent Fraser Institute study shows that housing became less affordable for Winnipeggers in the last decade.

“So in all three measures: how difficult is it for an ordinary family to buy a typical home, for the down payment, to serve the mortgage, or if they are not buying a home, and they are renting, in every case housing is taking a larger share of Winnipeggers’ after-tax incomes than it did a decade earlier,” said Austin Thompson, a senior policy analyst at Fraser Institute.

The Fraser Institute released the study on home affordability in Canada.

The study found deterioration in housing affordability across the country from 2014 to 2023, as the cost of living skyrocketed, and the average incomes struggled to keep up.

“Housing would be more affordable for ordinary Winnipeg families if they had more income to begin with. The background of this study shows that as house prices and rents climbed, and climbed, and climbed, the incomes have not kept up,” said Thompson.

The study shows, a quarter of the monthly income goes to pay the rent. Pang Zhao says his rent costs him half of his income in the west end area.

“There are very expensive houses in Winnipeg, but there are some houses that are affordable,” said Zhao.

Rent price increases force some Winnipeggers like Ruweda Mohamed to seek cheaper options. She used to rent an apartment for $800, but as the price went up, she has to pay $700 for a room.

“But somehow the rent just goes up. Which is kind of difficult. At first, I was living in an apartment. I was renting it $841. And then it changed, so I had to move. To find someone less than that which is difficult,” said Mohamed.

Despite the price increase, Winnipeg housing remains more affordable than most other major Canadian cities.

But Thompson says city policies create barriers to providing a new home supply.

“The situation in Winnipeg is quite a bit less dire than in some other cities. But there is this one issue of the time it takes for a homebuilder to receive approval from the city. According to the data, it’s about 10 months, and it’s a long wait time,” said Thompson.

The statement from the City of Winnipeg reads, “We share and update permit processing times online so developers can know ahead of time how long building and development permits could take to be processed. We are amid ongoing improvements to the permits process to make it more efficient and easier to navigate.”