Cost Of Living

Housing:
- In 2007 the rental vacancy rate of two bedroom apartments was 1.6%: this was 40.7% lower than the average for all Census Agglomerations.  The rental vacancy rate was up 166.7% from that in 2006.

- In 2006, the average house costs were equivalent to 2.9 years of annual income for the median family.  This ratio was 34.0% lower than the national average and 21.0% lower than the provincial average.

- At 1,098 housing starts in 2007, Medicine Hat saw a 60.1% increase from the 686 housing starts in 2003.  This compares to a national increase of 4.5% and a 33.6% increase in Alberta.

- In 2007, out of 24 cities surveyed, Medicine Hat ranked the third lowest with a tax rate of $1,665 for a single detached home in Canada.  The property taxes for a single detached home in Medicine Hat increased 5.7% from 2006 to 2007.

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