We’re going to assume that a good many of the realtors that visit our site here and read our blog will be able to remember a time when clients were able to purchase detached homes for less than $200, 000 dollars. And that it was even possible in ‘desirable’ locations in Canada provided you were able to temper your expectations about they type of home you’d be receiving for that price.
Many of them would have been considered starter homes, and as such the types of people buying these homes would be entirely amenable to the fact that the home wasn’t perfect. That was the reality for plenty of our parents with their first home they bought in Canada for less than a quarter of a million dollars.
Was it a time when the real estate business was any less competitive? Likely not, although some would make the fair point that there likely weren’t as many realtors back then. And primarily for the fact that working in real estate wasn’t as potentially lucrative to the same extent. But whether that’s the case or not, realtors who are finding it difficult to drum up new clientele the way they’d like then our online real estate lead generation system here at Real Estate Leads is a solid choice.
Now with the standard recommendation made, let’s proceed with this blog entry and look at how these long-standing affordable homes in Canada are close to becoming non existent.
35 of 50
We agree that it is a sign of Canada’s deepening affordability crises when we come to understand that homes under $200,000 are becoming near unheard of all across the country. A study by real estate marketplace facilitator Point2 Homes has put out a study that has laid out the facts regarding the near-total lack of homes for sale anywhere in the country that cost $200,000 or less.
Their study found that you’ll be unable to find homes under $200,000 in 35 of Canada’s 50 most expensive large cities. All of these cities are located in either British Columbia or Ontario and the criteria established was done by taking Canada’s 100 largest cities and then ranking them by highest median home price.
The other 15 cities on the list may have returned a few homes on the market below this price point, but with the exception of two of them all came back with zero to 1% of their respective markets featuring homes with a sub-$200k starting price point, and then of course let’s all keep in mind that any home that is even remotely affordably is almost certainly going to be the subject of a bidding war and sell for over asking price.
We can add to this further and point out from the report as well that 24 of the top 50 cities have benchmark home prices upwards of $1 million.
Lower than the Previous Low
It might make sense to think that because last 12 of the 50 largest, most expensive cities had homes for sale under $200,000 and 30 had benchmark prices of over $1 million that what we have for 2023 is an improvement. But that’s not the case; a closer look shows that the actual share of these homes in the market is equally as bleak when put in perspective. The reality is that homes below $200,000 once again represent less than 1% of all the homes available for sale in the top 50 cities.
Just two spots in Ontario – Waterloo and Kawartha Lakes – had any measurable shares of homes under $200,000. Waterloo’s number was 3.13% and it as 2.62% for Kawartha Lakes. Homebuyers priced out with this now have the best chance of finding a home in Atlantic Canada or the Prairies if they need to be below $200K as a price point. Cape Breton, N.S., and Saint John, N.B., had the highest share of homes under $200,000 at 44.5% and 36.6%.
They may also be wise to look to the Prairies, with all of Regina, Winnipeg and Edmonton having between 18.6% and 28.9% of listings under that point.
BC is the worst for housing unaffordability if we evaluate it with this criteria. Of the province’s 18 most expensive cities there are absolutely zero homes under $200K on the market. And only two out of the 2,300 listings in Surrey are currently listed for less than $200,000 and only one in Abbotsford and Richmond.
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