Here’s what $470,661, the average home price today, can get you across the country.

There’s no question that Canadian housing prices are hot – the average price of a detached home has climbed 33.5 percent since September 2011. Yet not all markets are created equal. In some locales, you can get a lot more house for your buck. Curious to see how big, or how small, a place you can get in different cities? We took the national average price of $470,661 and looked at what kind of home that gets you across the country.

Halifax

The biggest city in the Maritimes boasts a great university and a vibrant waterfront. Homes here sell for a reasonable average of just $274,142. Things run pricier in Newfoundland’s St. John’s, at $285,829, but average merely $158,149 in New Brunswick’s biggest city, Saint John.

For the national average, there are numerous new builds on the edge of Halifax and in its suburbs. This centrally located three-bedroom abode, listed at $472,400, looks staged and spiffy and has both an attached garage and a generous yard.

Halifax-Nova-Scotia

Montreal

Quebec’s biggest city comes with reasonable real estate prices: $360,174, on average. Homes sell for about $100,000 less in nearby Quebec City.

A sizable Mercier Ouest family home, with five bedrooms and two baths and an ample backyard with a shed, is going for $470,000. It’s a bit of a commute to downtown, but it’s easy to get elsewhere with Highway 25 nearby.

Montreal-Quebec

Toronto

Ontario’s capital ended 2016 with an average housing price of $730,472. Detached houses were going for well over $1 million, and prices experienced 19.9 percent year-over-year growth. Yikes! Some suburbs offer more affordability, such as Durham Region, where houses run around $570,957. Or go northeast to the nation’s capital: Ottawa homes sell for an average of $388,411.

Listed at $469,900, this three-plus-one-bedroom has three baths and a wee yard to call your own. It’s on the city’s far eastern end, just steps from Highway 401 (convenient, but maybe a bit noisy). Since most city homes in this range are condos, expect this house to sell over asking.

Toronto-Ontario

Winnipeg

Get a great deal by moving to the Peg, where houses go for an average of $279,651, well below the national average. But with prices rising 8.9 percent since 2015, which is above the national average, houses here could be a good investment.

This four-bedroom, four-bath house in Linden Woods, southwest of downtown Winnipeg, is listed at $469,900 – right around the national average. Could use a bit of polish, but can’t beat the triple-car garage and huge lot.

Winnipeg-Manitoba

Calgary

The struggling oil and gas sector is helping affordability in Cowtown. Houses run an average of $480,188, up 6.4 percent over 2015 but with 5.5 percent fewer sales. For even more reasonable home prices, head north to Edmonton and save more than $100,000 on digs.

For $474,900 you can get a roomy one-and-a-half-storey, decade-old detached house in the Castleridge neighbourhood in the northeast section of town. Three-plus-two bedrooms and it backs onto a park.

Calgary-Alberta

Vancouver

While prices have been on a downward slide of late due to a new 15-percent foreign-buyer tax, British Columbia’s largest city is still Canada’s priciest, with houses going for an average of $948,246. Coastal Victoria offers better deals, with prices around $585,267.

This Burnaby three-bedroom townhouse, listed at $479,900, needs work. But since most Vancouver-area homes in this price range are condos (or just don’t exist), it’ll be worth it. Plus, this 1976 build backs onto a ravine.

Burnaby-Vancouver

*Prices courtesy of crea.ca/housing-market-stats/national-average-price-map.


 

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