Real Estate

What $300,000 buys you in Canada’s housing market

A look at the square-footage costs across 30 Canadian cities shows the difference in nationwide home prices

THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Sean Kilpatrick

THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Sean Kilpatrick

Location or space? What are you willing to pay for?

A new infographic based on analysis from Point2homes.com offers a great visual snapshot of the trade-off between space—typically found in less urban areas—versus location (typically the denser, more urban spots).

The result is a visual representation of how much space $300,000 would buy you across 30 Canadian cities.

For instance, you could purchase a 339-square-foot condo in Vancouver or opt for a 1,210-square-foot place in Abbotsford, a city just 90 minutes southeast of Vancouver. In Ontario, you can get a 520-square-foot condo in Toronto or almost double your space (at 1,008-square-feet) by moving east to Hamilton.

No one will be surprised that Vancouver and Toronto are two of the five most expensive cities when it comes to sq.-foot costs, but rounding out the top five is Richmond, B.C., as well as two Ontario cities: Richmond Hill and Oakville.

The complete square footage breakdown is, as follows:

B.C.

Abbotsford: 1,210-sq.-feet
Surrey: 765-sq.-feet
Coquitlam: 661-sq.-feet
Burnaby: 489-sq.-feet
Richmond: 442-sq.-feet
Vancouver: 339-sq.-feet

Alberta

Edmonton: 1,176-sq.-feet
Calgary: 926-sq.-feet

Saskatchewan

Regina: 1,167-sq.-feet
Saskatoon: 1,071-sq.-feet

Manitoba

Winnipeg: 1,277-sq.-feet

Ontario

Windsor: 1,435-sq.-feet
London: 1,339-sq.-feet
St. Catharines: 1,316-sq.-feet
Greater Sudbury: 1,282-sq.-feet
Cambridge:  1,181-sq.-feet
Kitchener: 1,091-sq.-feet
Ottawa: 1,079-sq.-feet
Hamilton: 1,008-sq.-feet
Burlington: 775-sq.-feet
Mississauga: 750-sq.-feet
Oakville: 568-sq.-feet
Toronto: 520-sq.-feet
Richmond Hill: 367-sq.-feet

Quebec

Sherbrooke: 2,041-sq.-feet
Gatineau: 1,887-sq.-feet
Quebec City: 1,485-sq.-feet
Laval: 1,364-sq.-feet
Montreal: 1,230-sq.-feet

Atlantic Provinces

Halifax: 1,205-sq.-feet

Point2homes.com Methodology:

  • for our study we looked at the 50 biggest cities in Canada (in terms of city population) and selected 30 based on data availability;
  • sources used were a mix of listings available on Point2 Homes, Realtor.ca, and agents’ own listing databases;
  • home price per sq.-foot data in the cities below was offered by the following agents, whom we’d like to thank:

Francesca Stalteri, Realtor, Richmond Hill, Ont.
Jamie Vieira, Realtor, Oakville, Ont.
Mariana Ivanova, Realtor, Toronto
Kevin Baker, Realtor, Kitchener, Ont.
Jack Dyer, Realtor, Cambridge, Ont.
Kim Kunselman, Realtor, St. Catharines, Ont.
Nazar Hameed, Realtor, Mississauga, Ont.
Sam Wyatt, Realtor, Vancouver
Amy Assaad, Realtor, Montreal, Laval, Quebec City, Gatineau, Sherbrooke, Que

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