After a couple of quiet years, the Canadian real estate scene was expected to pick up steam in 2024 with more activity and competition.
At the start of 2024, buyers were hoping the Bank of Canada (Bo C) would finally drop interest rates after holding steady for years. But spring came and went without any rate changes.
Then in June 2024, when the Bo C cut rates for the first time since 2020, it barely moved buyer confidence. The Bank kept lowering rates through July, September, October, and December by a total of 175 basis points (or 1.75 percentage points). Still, that wasn’t enough to fully revive the market.
On the other hand, weaker demand meant more homes were available nationwide. By May, months of housing inventory hit 4.4-the highest since May 2020-according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). More homes on the market gave buyers more options and made sellers less eager to haggle, keeping things fairly balanced most of the year.
Heading into 2025, inflation was under control and it looked like the Bo C might be wrapping up its rate cuts. Lower home prices and mortgage rates were expected to unlock some pent-up demand as the year went on. But worries about potential U. S. tariffs have cooled buyer enthusiasm and left people wondering what the Bank will do next. On a brighter note, many parts of Canada saw home affordability improve over the past year.
So where’s best to buy a home in 2025? Check out this year’s Where to Buy Real Estate in Canada guide. It’s come a long way since Money Sense launched it back in 2009. This edition was done with Zoocasa – an award-winning real estate search platform – which dug through data to find top cities and regions across Canada plus standout neighborhoods in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and around GTA.
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Top spots for real estate: A national snapshot
Here’s where Zoocasa found you’ll get good value buying property across Canada in 2025 based on data from 44 regions. To see everything at once just swipe columns left or right on your device or download all info as Excel, CSV or PDF files. If you want help understanding how we got these results check out our full methodology.
Source: Zoocasa
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What’s driving Canada’s housing market this year?
In 2024 lots of buyers stayed cautious because they wanted mortgage rates to drop further before jumping in. Even though borrowing costs did fall during last year many waited until they felt sure rates had bottomed out before making moves.
“The typical urgency to enter the spring market diminished in 2024,” says Carrie Lysenko, chief executive officer of Zoocasa. “This widespread hesitancy fostered a rare balance in the housing market-buyers re-engaged at a measured pace, which maintained a stable equilibrium between supply and demand that we hadn’t seen in years. With rates expected to stabilize in 2025, buyers will be emboldened with more confidence in their borrowing decisions.”
Early this year average five-year fixed mortgage rates sat just above four percent-a nice change from nearly five percent back then last year. After several cuts through late 2024 sellers started feeling better about listing their homes which pushed new listings higher around most big markets-and that momentum has rolled into early months of this year too. From December ’24 into January ’25 new listings jumped eleven percent month-over-month while months’ worth of inventory edged up from three point nine months to four point two months nationally.
Nationwide sales grew steadily over last year but there were regional differences: Ontario slowed down during spring but Western cities picked up speed instead – especially Edmonton and Regina where sales rose by over fifty percent compared with April ’23 figures.
The start of ’25 showed slower sales overall but some Western cities kept surprising us with strong gains – Victoria saw sales rise twenty-five percent Yo Y; Edmonton twelve; Winnipeg four; meanwhile Toronto dropped nine percent versus last January.
“Due to home prices maintaining relative stability in our most populated cities, home buyers are continuing to recognize the value in less saturated markets, like the Prairies. Ultimately, they are being viewed as new real estate hotspots,” explains Lysenko. “While the core areas of Toronto and Vancouver represent a significant portion of national home sales, we continue to witness a notable shift in interest as people re-evaluate their living situations and the costs associated with urban life that began in earnest during the pandemic.”
The majority of places we looked at saw average prices rise less than three percent annually throughout last year while only few markets well outside Toronto-Vancouver zones ended with price hikes bigger than five percent yearly by end-of-year figures.
Away from core Toronto/Vancouver areas those markets showing strongest sales growth seem set for biggest price gains this year too – Quebec CMA (including Quebec City & Lévis), Regina Saskatoon Saint John Edmonton all started ’25 strong posting over nine-percent Yo Y price rises as January wrapped up so far prices stayed steady within major hubs but spring could bring faster increases ahead.
