Dear Editor:
The June 19 column, Adaptation Key to Affordability, by Dalit Holtzman, provides an apples to apples comparison of 1986 housing costs to the present day, but had one missing apple: the interest rate then and now. Interest rates are a key element of affordability and they were about 11 per cent in 1986, while they are at rock bottom today - at about three per cent for a five-year fixed mortgage.
It seems this factor - almost four - was missing in the equation. Had it been included the affordability disparity would have more or less evaporated.
Corrie Kost, North Vancouver
