Is it impossible to find affordable housing in today’s Ontario real estate market? It might be an enormous challenge in the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton and Ottawa, but if you look at some of the smaller cities and towns scattered across the province, you can still find a home in your price range. Whether it is Windsor or Guelph, there is a detached, townhome or condo suited for your budget.
Despite Ontario and the rest of Canada enduring a housing affordability crisis, the province offers opportunities for homebuyers to purchase a home without having to attain a monster mortgage for a 700-square-foot unit in the sky. But where?
We have compiled a list of the most affordable housing markets in Ontario real estate in 2021.
Buyers, Check Out the Most Affordable Markets in Ontario Real Estate!
#1 Windsor (June 2021 | YoY)
After years of hovering in the doldrums of the Ontario real estate market, the Windsor real estate market has climbed to new heights. Yet, despite its enormous growth, it remains the most affordable housing market in the province. Will prices come back down to earth, or is there still more room for gains? Perhaps the June numbers will provide some insight into what is happening.
- Residential Sales: +10.9 per cent
- Price: +36 per cent to $543,983
#2 London (June 2021 | YoY)
London has always been an Ontario real estate market that has always been on the cusp of explosive growth, but then the city stalls. However, over the last 16 months, the London housing industry has not only been performing ahead of 2020, but it has also presented numbers unseen since 1978. Here is what happened in June:
- Residential Sales: +49.4 per cent
- Price: +35 per cent to $641,072
#3 Barrie (June 2021 | YoY)
The Barrie real estate market was one of the first segments of the broader province housing market to witness a boom. Barrie benefitted greatly from the shift in consumer trends at the onset of the pandemic; households were eager to take a break from city living and find municipalities that were still in close proximity but offered more living space to accommodate all that extra time spent at home amid multiple lockdowns. With the broader Canadian real estate market beginning to cool down, will the scorching-hot Barrie market also ease up? Based on June’s market figures, sales are easing, but prices continue to climb. Despite this growth, Barrie continues to enjoy a spot on the list of most affordable Ontario municipalities, for now!
- Residential Sales: -7.8 per cent
- Price: +38.5 per cent to $728,200
#4 Kanata (June 2021 | YoY)
The Ottawa real estate market is on fire, enjoying the benefits of having two sectors that can work from home: technology and government. At the same time, many young professionals and families are planting new roots outside of the nation’s capital to find more affordable options and more living space. Based on Kanata’s figures, it continues to be a hot destination for these homebuyers.
- Residential Sales: +13.9 per cent
- Price: +28.8 per cent to $748,742
#5 Guelph (June 2021 | YoY)
Like London, Guelph is another Ontario real estate market that has always appeared on the cusp of soaring to the moon. But the city’s growth has been incremental over the years, enjoying a boom in the aftermath of the pandemic. Despite its impressive surge in prices and sales activity since the start of the COVID-19 public health crisis, it remains one of the most affordable markets in Ontario.
- Residential Sales: +13.1 per cent
- Price: +31.7 per cent to $786,100
#6 Hamilton (June 2021 | YoY)
Over the last decade, Hamilton has seen tremendous growth as more homebuyers search beyond the GTA, priced out of ultra-expensive real estate markets. In the process, these same individuals and households drove up the price of homes in Hamilton. Is the city that is 53 minutes away from Toronto still an affordable place to live?
- Residential Sales: +10 per cent
- Price: +28 per cent to $879,100
#7 St. Catharines (June 2021 | YoY)
St. Catharines and the broader Niagara region have flirted with sales and price records for close to a year now. The market is red-hot, and the most recent data suggest that there is still more room for growth. So, is it time to make the giant leap, or should homebuyers sit on the sidelines waiting for an eventual market cooling?
- Residential Sales: +15.6 per cent
- Price: +39.8 per cent to $655,200
#8 Waterloo (June 2021 | YoY)
After the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, many Ontario real estate markets were surging, with most of them reaching their zenith in recent months. The Waterloo real estate market is rather surprisingly performing better now than it was six months ago, although it remains an affordable housing market for potential homebuyers looking to discover the other beautiful jurisdictions throughout the province.
- Residential Sales: +10.1 per cent
- Price: +26.4 per cent to $759,115
#9 Kingston (June 2021 | YoY)
With so much buzz about the meteoric gains that the Ontario real estate market has witnessed over the last year, there has not been much discussion over what has been unfolding in Kingston. With supply and listings at rock bottom levels, prices have been increasing by double digits for quite some time. June was another great month for the Kingston housing market, even with sales activity slowing down.
- Residential Sales: +1 per cent
- Price: +27.3 per cent to $582,179
#10 Kitchener (June 2021 | YoY)
The Kitchener real estate market was ripe for tremendous gains as falling inventories and strengthening demand gave the Central Ontario town a shot in the arm. But even as sales and prices grow, it still finishes as one of the province’s most affordable housing markets.
- Residential Sales: +10.1 per cent
- Price: +26.4 per cent to $759,115
Is Ontario Real Estate No Longer Affordable?
The Ontario real estate market is on fire. But while there are signs that it may be cooling it off, the meteoric gains since the early days of the COVID-19 public health crisis would offset any slowdown. This is great for sellers, but what about homebuyers? Many real estate experts and financial analysts have been discussing at length the affordability crisis occurring in the province and throughout the Great White North. From British Columbia to Ontario to Nova Scotia, this is a nationwide problem that nobody can really solve since it is, at the heart of it, a supply issue.
Is there hope for young first-time-homebuyer families? Ontario is a vast province, and there are still opportunities to achieve the Canadian Dream, you just have to know where to look.
