Back to the top of this page. The cost of owning a home in Ontario has improved slightly, according to the RBC Financial Group's Housing Affordability Index released September 27th, 2001. The improvement in affordability was held back by a steep 25 per cent increase in utility bills in the first half of 2001. Housing affordability in Toronto is in the 38 per cent range, down from last year's 40 per cent but still uncomfortably high. The average cost of owning a home in Canada went from 33.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2000 to 32 per cent in the second quarter of this year.
Estimates have the index remaining virtually unchanged in the third quarter.
According to the report , low mortgage rates offset the negative impact of the economic slowdown on housing market activity in Canada in the first half of 2001. However, housing activity will moderate as the slowdown intensifies and the outlook for employment worsens in the remainder of the year. Back to the top of this page. The Ontario government and a consortium of companies led by BCE s Bell Canada will make anytime, anywhere access to government services available online, by telephone, and over self-serve terminals. President Terry Mosey inked a five-year contract at a signing ceremony in Toronto, September 4th, 2001.