Many Montrealers dream of buying a home, whether it's a colourful Victorian in the Plateau or a suburban abode in Laval. But a new report suggests home prices in Canada are even more unaffordable now than they were at the same time last year.
In a report published February 18, Zoocasa, a real estate agency, crunched sales numbers from the Canadian Real Estate Association and found the average price for a Canadian home reached $621,525 in January – 23% more than a year before.
Editor's Choice: You're Not A True Quebecer Unless You've Visited At Least 9 Of These 14 Iconic Spots
“Of the 25 regional housing markets included in CREA’s monthly report, 24 markets posted a y-o-y increase in the average home price, ranging from 5% to 41%, and just one market — Regina — saw the average home price decrease by 3% to $273,885,” according to report author Jannine Rane.
That’s the bad news for homebuyers, but the good news is the real estate market is anything but constant with huge differences in prices between cities.
The most expensive city in Canada is Vancouver where the average sale price for a home is $1,089,096, according to the report. In Toronto, it’s $967,885.
But in Montreal, that number is only $516,350.
“To better understand where home buyers may find pockets of affordability,” the report identified 18 Canadian cities where average home prices are below the national average and several of them are in Quebec.
Of the urban regions evaluated in the report, the Saguenay area is the second most affordable based on average home price. The cost of a home was up 10% compared to 2020, rising to an average price of $206,242.
Trois-Rivières wasn't far behind with a year-over-year average home price increase of 24% to $225,694.