Real Estate Statistics in Canada

After a few years of steady price increases, property prices in many areas of Canada hit a record high in 2022. Since then, many parts of Canada have seen prices fall. However, there are still areas where prices keep climbing. 

In this article, we explore the real estate statistics across Canada. We will also look at the housing market trends and what is predicted to happen to the price of real estate in Canada in 2024.

Real Estate Statistics for Canadians

• The average house price in Canada was 01% higher in August 2024 compared to August 2023.
• Newfoundland & Labrador has the cheapest average house price, while British Columbia is the most expensive province.
• Toronto, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia have the most expensive real estate markets.
• The cities of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec; Saguenay, Quebec; and Saint John, New Brunswick, have some of the cheapest real estate in Canada.
• Alberta saw the biggest rise in property prices between August 2023 and August 2024 at 11.2%. 
• The number of houses sold increased by 5% between October 2022 and October 2023. 

Real Estate Terms

Before we get into the statistics, there are some terms we will refer to throughout the article, that some people might not be familiar with. These terms are explained below.

Median Price: This is the price in the middle when all the property sales from a given period have been arranged from the lowest to the highest. Half of the properties during that period will have sold for less and the other half for more the the median price.

Average Price: We get the average price by adding together all the sales and then dividing the number by the total amount of sales. The average price is not always the most accurate measure since, for example, just one or two very expensive house sales will raise the average price.

Benchmark Price: This can be considered a typical sale price for a type of property in an area because the price is based on criteria that are commonly found in similar properties within the area. Estate agents use benchmark prices when predicting a sales price for a property.

MLS: An abbreviation for the Multiple Listings Service. It is a database that lists properties for sale in a given area and is used by real estate agents to find properties for potential buyers and to guide purchase offer negotiations. It is recognized as the most reliable and comprehensive data on real estate in Canada.

HPI: The Home Price Index is provided by the MLS and provides a clearer picture of market trends than median or average prices. It takes into account the type of homes sold and measures the rate of house price changes over time.

The average house price in Canada

The house prices in Canada reached an all-time high in February 2022 when the average home price was $816,720. Based on the data from WOWA Canada, the prices have since fallen and in August 2024, the average price had fallen to $649,096. However, WOWA reports that the average price was 0.1% higher than the year before. 

However, the national average house price is often skewed because of the large and expensive markets in places such as the Greater Toronto Area and Greater Vancouver, which also have the most active markets in Canada. If those two areas are taken out of the equation, the national average price is more than $110,000 lower.

What are the average house prices across the different provinces and territories?

The average price varies greatly across Canada from under £300,000 in the cheapest provinces to close to a million dollars in the most expensive provinces.

We have listed the average prices in the Canadian provinces and territories in the table below. Note that there is no data for Nunavut. However, a report by CBC News from January 2022 shows that prices in Iqaluit, the territory’s capital rose sharply during 2021.

Province/Territory	Average price
Newfoundland & Labrador	$342,705
Saskatchewan	$315,858
New Brunswick	$329,319
Manitoba	$344,478
Prince Edward Island	$401,975
Nova Scotia	$435,701
Northwest Territories	$422,787
Alberta	$494,920
Quebec	$495,875
Yukon	$590,000
Ontario	$817,915
British Columbia	$938,500

The cities with the most expensive real estate

Since British Columbia and Ontario have the most expensive real estate among the provinces and territories, it is not surprising to find the most expensive cities within these two provinces. In September 202, the average home cost $1,179,700 in Vancouver and $1,068,700 in Toronto. Other cities where the average prices are around the one million mark include Hamilton in Ontario and Victoria in British Columbia. 

What has been pushing the prices up in Canada until the last few months when the prices began to fall in most provinces and territories? The main reason has been the lack of supply to meet the growing demand. Many municipalities are trying to address this by building new homes to meet the needs of the residents and to stem the exponential price increases in some areas.

The cities with the cheapest real estate

It is still possible to find cheaper real estate in Canada if you are willing to look outside the most popular areas. Listings from Point2Homes show that some of the most affordable property markets in Canada are in Saint John, New Brunswick, Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, and Saguenay, Quebec.

In Trois-Rivieres, an average home will cost only $160,000. while in Saguenay the average price is $213,000. In Saint John, the average price of homes sold in October 2023 was $298,141.

A closer look at real estate statistics in different parts of Canada

Ontario

In Ontario, the average home price decreased by 1.2% from July 2024 to August 2024. I was also down by 2.4% since August 2024. 

Maritime Provinces

The Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia continued to outperform the rest of the country with the biggest increases in benchmark and average prices. In a year, the average house price in New Brunswick increased by 12% and in Nova Scotia by 8%. Prince Edward Island saw prices increase by 3.8%.

Newfoundland & Labrador

The prices in Newfoundland & Labrador increased between August 2023 and September 2024. In a year, the average price increased by 10.3% in the province to $342,705 in August 2024. It seems that prices are still going up in Newfoundland and Labrador as prices in August were up 5.4% compared to the previous month. 

The Prairie Provinces

The three Prairie Provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have all seen the average property prices go up compared to 2023. Alberta’s house prices increased the most with the average home costing 11.2% more in August 2024 compared to the previous year. 

British Columbia

In British Columbia, the average house price have decreased over the last year. In August 2024, the average home in British Columbia cost $938,500, which was 1.7% lower compared to the average from last summer. 

Quebec

House prices in Quebec have increased by 5% on average in a year. However, monthly comparison of the average house prices shows a 1.4% decrease between July and August.

The Territories

Both Yukon and the Northwest Territories have seen their average year-on-year house prices go up. The prices were up by 8% in Yukon and 7% in the Northwest Territories. It was recently reported that house prices in Whitehorse had climbed over $700.000. There is no data listed for Nunavut.

What is predicted to happen to real estate in Canada during the final months of 2024?

Looking ahead to what the next year is likely to look like for the Canadian property market, most experts expect the housing market to show gradual signs of recovery. According to CREA national home sales may increase by 13.9% in 2024. House prices are also expected to increase. The estimate is a 4.7% increase, which would mean the average home in Canada will cost $702,000. 

However, some challenges could affect Canada’s housing market in 2024, including the worsening supply of new homes. The number of new listings has been falling in Canada and is at a 20-year low. This has created an imbalance between supply and demand, which could push prices considerably higher.