This small town in Canada is selling residential lots for just $10 to get you to move there

If you've been keeping an eye on the Canada housing market and dreaming of finding affordable housing, one small municipality in central Canada has a deal that sounds almost too good to be true.

Picture wide-open skies, quiet streets and enough space to finally build the home you've always imagined — without draining your life savings.

In this corner of the Prairies, there's a program offering fully serviced residential lots for just $10. It's not a typo, and it's not a gimmick — but there are a few Ts and Cs.

To get the deal, you'll need to follow a set of rules and be ready to move quickly. It's a great option for anyone looking to buy cheap land and build their own home without the sky-high price tag that's common in most of the country.

That place is Manitoba's Rural Municipality of Pipestone, a small but spread-out community of around 1,400 people. It sits halfway between Winnipeg and Regina, about 45 minutes north of the U.S. border, and includes several villages and hamlets, the largest of which is Reston.

It's quiet, rural and surrounded by open prairie — the kind of place where space isn't in short supply.

How it works

According to the municipality's website, the process to snag one of these lots is straightforward: pick your property, put down a $1,000 deposit, and sign an offer agreement. The official purchase price is $10, but you have to start building within 90 days and finish within a year.

Once the house is complete, landscaped and has an occupancy permit, the municipality refunds $990 of your deposit.

If you don't meet the timelines or requirements, you lose the deposit — although let's be honest, $1,000 for a fully serviced residential lot is still a total steal.

Plus, there's another perk — when you finish building, you could qualify for the RM of Pipestone Residential Grant. This grant is worth 3% of your construction costs, up to a maximum of $6,000.

The land is fully serviced, meaning you don't have to cover major infrastructure like water hookups yourself, though local improvement charges (like street paving) may still be added to your property taxes. The program's goal, the municipality says, is to encourage residential development and bring in new residents.

For anyone willing to commit to building quickly and embracing small-town life, this could be a rare opportunity to secure land at a fraction of typical costs in the Canadian real estate market. But as with any property purchase, it's worth reading all the fine print before signing on the dotted line.

This story was inspired by the article “Cette petite ville canadienne offre des terrains à 10 $ pour te convaincre d'y déménager,” which was originally published on Narcity Quebec by Jean-Michel Clermont-Goulet.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

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