Houses Prices In Some Canadian Cities Have Dropped By Over $20,000 Since 2015

Buying a house is still something that plenty of people aspire to. However, finding a place where there are affordable homes isn't always easy. With Canadian real estate, though, it all depends on where you want to live, as prices in some markets have actually dropped by thousands of dollars over the last five years.

While some markets like Toronto and Vancouver are likely going to stay expensive for a long time, there are a few cities where benchmark prices for single-family homes have not only stayed fairly reasonable but have actually fallen since 2015.

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Where are house prices dropping?

If you want to find cities where real estate prices have declined, heading out west is a pretty solid bet.

According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, Calgary and Edmonton have both seen their benchmark prices for single-family homes drop within the last five years. 

Similarly, Regina and Saskatoon have also seen a decline in the cost of detached houses, although it is not quite as much as in Alberta's major cities.

On the east coast, prices in St. John's, Newfoundland have also taken a dip since 2015, although they did rebound after a low point in December 2019.

How much cheaper are they?

In some of these cities, the benchmark prices have seen declines from anywhere between $18,000 and $32,000.

For example, Calgary's real estate went from $497,300 in September 2015 down to $466,000 in August 2020, a difference of $31,300.

While not quite as drastic, the price of a single-family home in Edmonton fell $18,200 from $395,200 to $377,000 within the last five years.

Saskatoon and Regina saw their home prices drop to $319,400 and $286,900 respectively, marking declines of $7,100 and $7,600.

The cost of a house in St. John's plummetted from $292,100 in September 2015 to $271,600 in August of this year.

Where are houses more expensive?

Unsurprisingly, benchmark home prices in British Columbia and Ontario markets have either stayed fairly steady or risen since 2015.

The cost of detached houses in the Greater Vancouver Area has climbed from $1,187,000 to just over $1.5 million in the last five years.

While the idea of every house in Toronto costing over a million dollars is pretty familiar these days, that wasn't necessarily the case back in 2015, when the benchmark price for homes in the GTA was $665,700. 

Since then, there has been an increase of over $330,000 to $999,200 in August 2020.

The city that might surprise Canadians most of all with its house costs is Winnipeg, which has seen a robust rise from $256,400 to $300,500 as it becomes a more popular market for people working from home.