A new report suggests Canada’s Prairie cities have a wider share of less expensive homes compared the rest of Canada’s largest cities.
Two of them are located in Saskatchewan.
The report from Point2Homes, which calls itself a real estate marketplace serving Canada, the U.S. and other international locations, indicates that Regina has the highest share of homes under $200,000 among the Prairie region’s largest cities at just over 36 per cent.
Nationally, the Queen City has the second most among Canada’s largest cities only behind Cape Breton, N.S., which sits at more than 44 per cent.
Saskatoon recorded the fourth-most share of listings under $200,000 in the Prairies and sixth-most nationwide at just over 23 per cent.
“Although not the lowest figure, $200,000 (about one-quarter of the average national home price) is a suitable reference point to gauge the share of what is now referred to as an ‘affordable listing,'” the report states.
According to data collected by Point2Homes, six Prairie cities made the top 10 of large Canadian cities with the highest share of listings under $200,000.
Lethbridge, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Red Deer were ranked at fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth respectively. Saint John, N.B., and St. John’s, Nfld., were positioned at third and ninth respectively, while Quebec City took 10th.
It’s noted in the report that approximately only 10 per cent of all Canadian homes on the market are less than $200,000 with not many listings found in major cities due to increasing housing costs.
“These needles in the haystack account for less than one per cent of the entire stock for sale.”
Chris Guérette, CEO of the Saskatchewan Realtors Association, credited the province for “doing something right” on this front.
She said Saskatchewan has been successful in terms of focusing on economic activity and growth, yet affordable housing continues to exist in the province.
“We also take a look at what is in our housing continuum as a whole. So not only price points, but a variety of price points and a variety of amenities in those price points. So when you combine all of that, I think we still do have a pretty healthy housing continuum in this province,” explained Guérette.
She added that Saskatchewan has also worked to meet the demand of housing over the past decade or two, which has supported affordable housing prices compared to other jurisdictions.
While Guérette noted that there has been a red flag in meeting housing demand over the past couple years due to demand outpacing supply at this time, she suggested that Saskatchewan has shown that it’s a place that has grown in a smart and efficient way.
“Centres that have a very steep erosion of affordability and housing means that they were not able to have solutions quick enough to respond to that demand, and then there was a very quick erosion of affordability,” Guérette mentioned.
“Once you’ve eroded that and you have very high prices, it’s very, very hard to correct that.”
The report also found that home prices began to slow this spring in different parts of the country and that there are optimistic forecasts of further drops by the end of the year.
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