Canadian cities like Lethbridge, Alta., Saint John, N.B., and Thunder Bay, Ont., are a number of the most reasonably priced for these seeking to personal a house amid the cost-of-living crunch, based on a report from Royal LePage, which names the highest 15 most reasonably priced cities in Canada.
A mean of half (51 per cent) of respondents to the report’s survey who have been from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver mentioned they’d think about transferring to a type of extra reasonably priced cities in the event that they have been capable of finding a job or work remotely.
This additionally comes after a separate report from charges.ca in March confirmed that mortgage affordability was getting worse in most major Canadian cities.
“House costs in Canada’s largest cities have moderated over the previous couple of years, however for a lot of patrons, the maths nonetheless doesn’t work,” Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage, mentioned in a press launch.
“As boundaries to entry stay excessive within the nation’s most costly city centres, relocating to a extra reasonably priced metropolis is turning into much less of a final resort and extra of a deliberate technique. Aspiring owners who can not safe a foothold in these markets are severely weighing their choices.”
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The report from Royal LePage ranks 15 cities by its personal “Affordability Issue,” which it says is predicated on the share of revenue wanted to cowl a month-to-month mortgage cost — the decrease the share level, the higher.
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Royal LePage says it components in 2024 revenue information from Statistics Canada, in addition to its personal combination house worth information from the primary three months of 2026. Combination, on this context, is actually a mean house worth relative to the variety of houses offered in a specific market.
Listed here are essentially the most reasonably priced cities:
- Lethbridge, Alta., (18.9 per cent), with an combination house worth of $338,700
- Saint John, N.B., (19.6 per cent), with an combination house worth of $265,900
- Thunder Bay, Ont., (20.3 per cent) with an combination house worth of $339,900
- Purple Deer, Alta., (24.9 per cent) with an combination house worth of $447,200
- Regina, Sask., (25 per cent) with an combination house worth of $397,900
- St. John’s, N.L., (26.3 per cent) with an combination house worth of $377,900
- Edmonton, Alta., (26.3 per cent) with an combination house worth of $472,30
- Trois-Rivières, Que., (27.3 per cent) with an combination house worth of $400,100
- Fredericton, N.B., (27.8) with an combination house worth of $377,200
- Winnipeg, Man., (27.9 per cent) with an combination house worth of $424,500
- Windsor-Essex, Ont., (28.7 per cent) with an combination house worth of $480,500
- Saskatoon, Sask., (28.8 per cent) with an combination house worth of $458,000
- Sherbrooke, Que., (28.9 per cent) with an combination house worth of $423,200
- Moncton, N.B., (29.5 per cent) with an combination house worth of $399,300
- Charlottetown, P.E.I., (30.6 per cent) with an combination house worth of $428,200
Royal LePage says its estimates of mortgage affordability factored in a 20 per cent down cost and a three-year mounted time period mortgage at an rate of interest of 4.64 per cent, amortized over 25 years.
The survey information, which was performed earlier in June by Burson for Royal LePage, featured 900 grownup Canadian contributors residing within the Higher Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver areas.
Fifty-five per cent of respondents within the Higher Toronto Space, 48 per cent within the Higher Montreal Space and 46 per cent in Higher Vancouver mentioned they’d think about relocating to one of many 15 most reasonably priced cities listed in the event that they have been capable of finding work or work remotely.
Gen Z respondents have been extra more likely to make a transfer at 77 per cent, in contrast with 56 per cent of millennials, 51 per cent of Gen X and 34 per cent of child boomers.
“Youthful Canadians – usually much less anchored to 1 group particularly – are well-positioned to make the transfer to a different metropolis or province, with the pliability to place down roots the place housing is extra attainable,” Soper mentioned.
“What has shifted, nonetheless, is the benefit of doing so. The distant work period gave patrons the liberty to dwell anyplace whereas incomes a aggressive wage. As extra employees return to the workplace, that freedom is turning into tougher to return by.”
An MNP examine from final 12 months discovered that young Canadians were struggling with debt the most among the many given age classes, which one economist described as “a type of youth-cession.”
Separate Ipsos polling performed completely for International Information in 2024 discovered that four in five Canadians felt owning a home was something only the rich could achieve, which included 90 per cent cent of Gen Z respondents and 82 per cent of millennials.
© 2026 International Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.