Montreal real estate and household incomes

Rob Carrick from the Globe & Mail is back at with an article entitled "Can you afford a home in these cities?" I love how Rob keeps it real and puts things in a comparative perspective. Rob again applies his Real Life Ratio indicator when looking at home affordability in various Canadian cities. According to him, "Montreal's a trouble spot, with actual household income well below the estimated income required to carry the average home." I would agree with him that "Falling prices would help some prospective home buyers, but its not a big factor as you'd expect." I also agree that if the Real Life Ratio, i.e. the common sense calculation for owning a home doesn't work then it's okay to rent or save on building a large down payment.