Ontario real estate has grown so fast, the rest of Canada’s housing bubble looks tame. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data shows major markets saw prices rise at least 60% since 2020. Some housing markets have even seen prices more than double in just over two years.
Ontario’s Top Real Estate Markets Have Seen Prices Double In Just Over 2 Years
Ontario’s top real estate markets were in cottage country, a couple hours north of Toronto. The highest increase was observed in North Bay (+111.1%), where prices have more than doubled since 2020. Three more markets managed triple digit growth: Woodstock-Ingersoll (+105.4%), Bancroft (+103.5%), and Brantford (+100.4%). Don’t take this the wrong way — we’re not saying it’s unusual because these are small towns, it would be unusual growth for anywhere on the planet.
Ontario Home Price Change Since 2020
The percent change in the composite benchmark home price from January 2020 to March 2022.
Source: CREA; Better Dwelling.
Ontario’s “Worst” Performing Markets Have Seen 60% Growth
Even “low growth” real estate markets have seen prices get a surreal price bump since 2020. The “slowest” market was Mississauga (+61.5%), a suburb directly bordering Toronto. Doing a little better but rounding out the bottom three were Ottawa (+63.2%) and Windsor-Essex (+65.3%). When the worst performing market has seen more than 60% growth, it’s hard to argue this isn’t a credit issue.
Ontario Home Price Change Since 2020
The percent change in the composite benchmark home price from January 2020 to March 2022.
Source: CREA; Better Dwelling.
Toronto Real Estate Climbed 67% and It’s One of The Worst Performing Markets
Ontario’s two headline markets were notably absent from the extreme top and bottom of the list. Greater Toronto (+67.0%) came in 25th out of the top 28 markets included in the CREA benchmark. Hamilton (+79.4%) was just ahead in the 23rd spot. Toronto consistently ranks amongst the biggest real estate bubbles in the world. Hamilton managed to top the IMF’s most overvalued market in Canada, and it’s still climbing.
It didn’t matter where the home in Ontario was located, home prices surged everywhere. Cottage country led the gains, with a lot of them also landing on Moody’s most overvalued cities. Not one major market in the CREA HPI showed less than 60% growth. Maybe all of Ontario, almost double the size of France with its 67.39 million people, will be the next Manhattan?
