Owning in Hamilton costs 51 per cent more on average: Zoocasa

The average monthly mortgage payment for a home in Hamilton is nearly $1,400 more expensive than renting an average apartment in the city, a new report has found.

The study from Zoocasa looked at the cost of renting an apartment versus the cost of owning a home in 21 major markets across Canada, including Steeltown.

The average rent for an apartment in Hamilton - based on data from Rentals.ca - is an estimated $2,031 a month.

Compare that to the average monthly mortgage payment for a home in the city: At an average value of $800,584, that stands at $3,427, according to the report.

It's a difference of $1,396 per month, making it just over 51 per cent more expensive to own a home in the current market.

Zoocasa said its average rental prices used in the report came from Rentals.ca, while the average home price was based on data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

The mortgage payment estimations were tallied using the Ratehub.ca affordability calculator, assuming a 20 per cent down payment on an average priced home in each market, with a 30-year amortization on a rate of 4.69 per cent.

Other costs, such as utilities and property taxes, were not included.

The latest report comes just days after Zoocasa released a separate study on housing affordability for median incomes in Canadian markets.

That report found that a household in the Hamilton-Burlington area would need to make an income of $128,512 in order to afford an average priced home in the region.

However, the median income for the two regions sits at around $103,820, making it the fourth-largest affordability gap in the country.

A look across Canada

Across the 21 major Canadian markets included in the most recent report, Hamilton tied for fifth in terms of the difference of cost between mortgage and rent payments.

The largest disparity was in Oakville-Milton, where the average rental rate is $2,595 and the average mortgage payment costs $5,221.

Meanwhile in Winnipeg, the average monthly mortgage payment sits at $1,360, which is less than the average rent of $1,435.

Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. fhewitt@thespec.com