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Summary

These Are The Cheapest Canadian Cities For Buying A Home & Here's How Much You Need To Make

Time to consider a move?

The Winnipeg skyline. Right: Downtown Edmonton.

The Winnipeg skyline. Right: Downtown Edmonton.

Creator

For those who are looking for a home in Canada, it can sometimes seem like you need a six-figure salary no matter where you're living.

And while that is the case for some of the bigger markets in the country, there are actually some well-known cities where people who make less than $100,000 a year can actually buy a house in Canada.

According to RateHub's March figures, there are actually a handful of cities in Canada where you can buy a home to call your own, even if you aren't some big billionaire CEO.

The cheapest location on the run down goes to the Manitoban gem of Winnipeg.

In Winnipeg, the average cost of a home in March 2023 was $336,300. This means that the minimum wage you would need to acquire a mortgage would be $75,650.

But also consider that these prices were lower last year, so there's a chance that Winnipeg prices are on the upswing.

After Winnipeg's win comes the second cheapest city on the list, which is Edmonton.

If you're looking to buy a house in this Albertan city, you'll need about $81,950 in yearly income, as the average home price is $371,200.

After that, the next cheapest option is Halifax, with an average home price of $496,900. This would require an income of $104,660.

As for the most expensive? It probably comes as no surprise that Vancouver and Toronto are the two cities topping the list. The income needed to buy a home in Vancouver is $221,580, with an average home price of $1,143,900.

In Toronto, that income is a little lower at $217,000 for an average home price of $1,118,500.

Interestingly enough, the average home price has gone down in the top 10 markets in Canada — asides from Calgary — over the last twelve months, while the required income has only risen as a product of rising interest rates.

Of course, it's hard to predict what will happen to house prices through the rest of the year, but one thing is for sure — Canada's housing market is always full of surprises.

  • Creator

    Tristan Wheeler (he/him) was a Toronto-based Creator for Narcity Media. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2020 where he was the Blog & Opinion Editor at the campus publication, The Ubyssey, for two years. Since then, his work has appeared in publications such as Curiocity, Maclean's, POV Magazine, and The Capital Daily, delving into topics such as film, media criticism, food & drink, podcasting, and more.

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