Homes priced under $500,000 are vanishing across Ontario
Homes priced at under $500,000 are becoming a rarity in Ontario, with fewer than one in five dwellings falling under that threshold, new data from a government-run property assessment group shows.
A decade ago, 74 per cent of Ontario’s residential properties were valued under $500,000, and 91 per cent were below $750,000. Today, those figures have dropped to 19 per cent and 48 per cent, respectively, according to figures released this past week by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).
As of December 2023, the median home value in Ontario has soared to $765,000, with the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) witnessing an even steeper climb to a median of $1,031,000.
Even in smaller communities outside the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) affordability is vanishing.
In St. Catharines, for example, the percentage of homes under $500,000 has plummeted from 96.9 per cent to 30.1 per cent.
Options below $500,000 are now largely confined to cities such as Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Thunder Bay and Windsor, with slightly more options available under $750,000 in cities including Ottawa, London, Kitchener, Kingston, Barrie and Peterborough.
Greg Martino, vice-president of MPAC, said no single factor has caused the change.
“The reality is that current home prices are a reflection of various economic forces at play,” Martino said in the group’s assessment. “Factors like supply and demand, increased construction and labour costs plus inflation are all part of what’s driving today’s house prices.”
Condo markets have seen a similar erosion of affordability. In 2013, 88 per cent of the GTHA’s residential condominiums were valued at under $500,000, with a median price hovering around $325,000. Fast
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