Putting Kamloops, Okanagan housing prices in national perspective
A lot of talk these days is about the unaffordable housing in places like Kelowna and Kamloops but when compared to the rest of Canada, prices are not that bad.
And even though local prices are higher than anywhere in Alberta and some B.C. residents may actually be making the move, statistics show about 10,000 more people move from Alberta to B.C. each year than the other way around.
The Canadian Real Estate Association publishes monthly figures on the sale prices of all housing units in specific areas and cities in the country. Usually those are benchmark, or typical, sale prices.
For B.C., most of the Interior is lumped together and shows a benchmark price for all homes sold as $705,700 in July, the most recent month that data is available for.
Calgary, the most expensive city in Alberta, comes in at a mere $526,900.
Prices go down from there to $351,034 in Lethbridge, $331,584 in Medicine Hat and a lowly $303,400 in Edmonton.
Yet, in 2020-21, 31,232 Albertans moved to B.C. from Alberta and only 15,376 went the other way, according to Statistics Canada.
That’s the greatest disparity of any time back to 2016-17 with most years showing a difference of about 10,000 – always in B.C.’s favour.
The B.C. Interior is more expensive than much of the country, other than Ontario, and the rest of B.C.
There are some exceptions with areas like Thunder Bay ($334,177) and Sudbury ($452,500) being considerably lower.
Even Ottawa is slightly lower at $674,000.
Montreal and Halifax come in at just over $533,000.
All of B.C., except the North and Powell River, is more expensive than the Interior.
READ MORE: Okanagan real estate market faring better than Kamloops and rest of B.C.
Vancouver Island, for example, comes in at $764,600 and Chilliwack at $805,000.
B.C. prices jump to $975,600 in Victoria and peak in Greater Vancouver at $1,207,300, the highest in the country.
Below is a selection of key real estate markets across the country. All are benchmark prices except for those marked (A), which are average prices.
- $193,100 – Cape Breton
- $228,700 – Yarmouth
- $230,873 – Brandon (A)
- $248,200 – Moose Jaw
- $264,604 – Saguenay (A)
- $291,900 – St. John, NB
- $303,400 – Edmonton
- $305,900 – Fredericton
- $320,400 – St. John’s, NL
- $321,500 – Quebec City
- $330,500 – Regina
- $331,584 – Medicine Hat (A)
- $334,177 – Thunder Bay (A)
- $337,700 – Moncton
- $351,034 – Lethbridge (A)
- $351,700 – Winnipeg
- $374,100 – Prince Edward Island
- $383,700 – Saskatoon
- $399,712 – Cornwall
- $409,548 – B.C. North
- $450,151 – Sherbrooke (A)
- $452,500 – Sudbury
- $456,225 – Gatineau (A)
- $490,258 – Northwest Territories (A)
- $526,900 – Calgary
- $533,300 – Montreal
- $533,500 – Halifax
- $553,358 – Yukon (A)
- $567,000 – Kingston
- $668,600 – Windsor
- $674,500 – Ottawa
- $705,700 – B.C. Interior
- $716,500 – Niagara
- $741,500 – Peterborough
- $748,900 – Kitchener-Waterloo
- $764,600 – Vancouver Island
- $776,800 – Cambridge
- $805,000 – Chilliwack
- $867,300 – Barrie
- $873,800 – Guelph
- $884,400 – Hamilton
- $975,600 – Victoria
- $1,091,700 – Fraser Valley
- $1,129,300 – Mississauga
- $1,157,500 – Greater Toronto
- $1,207,300 – Greater Vancouver
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