How much income do you need to buy a home in Canada? A look at home affordability in April 2025 + MORE May 27th

At last, interest rates are coming down again. For Canadians who are in the market for a new home, facing renewal of their mortgage in the foreseeable future, or feeling unsatisfied with their current home loan, this poses two choices: do you pounce now, or stay on the sidelines in the hope that rates fall even more?

A little wisdom from those who’ve been there: this is not just a financial transaction—it’s your life. Sooner or later, you’ve got to get on with it. And over the 20 or 30 years it takes to pay off your mortgage, it won’t much matter what the rate was the day you first got approved.

Especially when you look beyond Canada’s Big Five banks, you’ll find attractive rates right now. For example, buyers in B.C. can find great rates at Coast Capital Savings Credit Union. Its five-year high-ratio fixed mortgage has a lower advertised rate than any of the Big Five (as at May 23, 2025), based on independent, external third-party market research.

Plus, for a limited time, you can get a cash bonus when open a new mortgage or switch your existing mortgage to Coast Capital…

This is part of a series of columns about how to protect important information and people in your life against fraud and scams. Stay tuned for more.

As assets go, you would think real estate is uniquely resistant to theft. After all, it’s not like cash or a vehicle; no one can run off with it. But real estate can be leveraged for financial gain. That’s why Canadians have to contend with crimes such as mortgage fraud and title fraud. Here’s how they work, and how to protect yourself.

Mortgage fraud in Canada

The most common form of mortgage fraud in Canada is what’s called first-party fraud: A mortgage applicant misrepresents aspects of their financial affairs when they apply—for example, by claiming a higher income than they really earn or by failing to disclose debts.

“They’re not pretending to be someone else,” says Carl Davies, head of fraud and identity at Equifax Canada. And the targets of first-party mortgage fraud are lenders, not consumers. Still, Canadians as a whole suffer as a result, as the costs of first-party fraud get passed on to them through higher financing costs…

April marked another chilly month for Canadian home sales, but there were perks in store for those actively on the house hunt. Home prices continue to soften in many of Canada’s largest urban centres, leading to an overall improvement in affordability in just over half of the cities.

This is according to Ratehub.ca’s most recent Affordability Report, a monthly snapshot of market conditions across Canada. The analysis  looks at national real estate data, changes to mortgage rates, and the mortgage stress test, measuring how affordability evolves in the past month. It defines affordability as the amount of income a home buyer would need to earn to qualify for a mortgage on the average-priced home in their city, along with changes to monthly mortgage payments.

Unlike previous months, where decreases to mortgage rates were a major factor, April conditions were mainly impacted by drops to the average home price. This was evident in seven of the 13 markets. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), plummeting home sales and building supply are making their mark on property values in many markets; transactions were down 9…