Canadian real estate: The cost of buying a home now
How much does it cost to buy a home in Canada?
It depends on where you want to live.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) regularly publishes statistics about real estate prices in major Canadian metropolitan areas.
Their most recent report — for the third quarter of 2010 — included average MLS (Multiple Listing Service) prices for homes sold in 2009 and forecast prices through the end of 2010.
In this CMHC report, Vancouver ranked as the nation’s most expensive housing market.
Buying a place to live in Vancouver in 2009 would have cost nearly double the cost of a home in Ottawa and almost three times as much as housing in Quebec City or in Winnipeg.
Victoria (BC) was the second most expensive city to buy real estate. Prices in Toronto and in Kelowna (in British Columbia’s Okanagan region) were roughly comparable, and just slightly higher than prices in Calgary.
The cheapest cities? Saint John (New Brunswick), Windsor (Ontario), and Trois-Rivières (Quebec).
Here’s a summary of the city-by-city results for 20 metropolitan areas:
Average MLS Sale Prices
| Metropolitan area | 2009 | 2010 (forecast) |
| Vancouver, BC | $592,441 | $655,000 |
| Victoria, BC | $476,137 | $510,000 |
| Kelowna, BC | $400,450 | $420,000 |
| Toronto, ON | $396,154 | $427,000 |
| Calgary, AB | $385,882 | $403,000 |
| Edmonton, AB | $320,378 | $333,000 |
| Ottawa, ON | $304,801 | $326,500 |
| Hamilton, ON | $290,946 | $312,000 |
| Saskatoon, SK | $278,895 | $285,000 |
| Montreal, QC | $274,842 | $292,700 |
| Kitchener, ON | $269,552 | $287,000 |
| Halifax, NS | $237,214 | $250,000 |
| St. John’s, NL | $218,862 | $245,000 |
| London, ON | $214,510 | $225,000 |
| Quebec City, QC | $212,198 | $232,000 |
| Winnipeg, MB | $207,342 | $225,000 |
| Charlottetown, PEI | $177,237 | $178,000 |
| Saint John, NB | $171,027 | $174,500 |
| Windsor, ON | $153,691 | $157,000 |
| Trois-Rivières, QC | $142,048 | $148,500 |
For more details, or for information about the housing marketing in other Canadian cities, see the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Their Housing Market Information pages are especially useful for comparing costs in various cities.
Photo ©Carolyn B. Heller
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Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities in Canada and the world. Consistently voted #1 or #2 has propelled Vancouver Real Estate to the clouds where price is concerned. Vancouver also cannot expand outward, it can only get taller and more expensive. Beaches, mountains, friendly residents, general acceptance of others, fantastic public facilities and a pile of other things make Vancouver very expensive.
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