A new report shows just how dramatically house prices have climbed in Ontario in the past decade.
Statistics released recently from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) chart the percentage of homes available under certain price thresholds in a number of Ontario markets.
And it shouldn鈥檛 come as any surprise to anyone familiar with the real estate market that opportunities for homebuyers under $500,000 are harder and harder to come by.
Provincewide, 74 per cent of residential properties in Ontario as of December 2013 had a home value estimate of less than $500,000, while 91 per cent of homes had a value of less than $750,000, according to the MPAC statistics.
Today, just 19 per cent of homes in Ontario are valued at less than $500,000, while the number of homes with a value less than $750,000 has dropped to 48 per cent.
In local communities, the vast majority of properties were worth less than $500,000 10 years ago 鈥 83.7 per cent in Waterloo, 88.4 per cent in Guelph, 93.1 per cent in Kitchener, and 94.8 per cent in Cambridge.
That鈥檚 changed considerably 鈥 today, just 7.3 per cent of properties in 撸奶社区are worth less than $500,000, followed by Cambridge (6.9 per cent), Waterloo (15.3 per cent) and Kitchener (20.1 per cent).
In Cambridge, 49.1 per cent of properties are valued below $750,000 today, while that statistic stands at 39 per cent for Kitchener, 35.2 per cent for Guelph, and 32.3 per cent for Waterloo.
鈥淟ooking across the province, our data shows increases in home values across Ontario 鈥 even in smaller communities outside the GTHA,鈥 MPAC鈥檚 vice president and chief valuation and standards officer Greg Martino said in a release.
鈥淭he reality is that current home prices are a reflection of various economic forces at play. Factors like supply and demand, increased construction and labour costs plus inflation are all part of what’s driving today’s house prices.鈥
February sales statistics hadn鈥檛 been released Monday by the Waterloo Region Association of Realtors, but the rose 3.2 per cent from December, to $762,174.
That overall average was essentially flat compared to January 2023, with a 0.1 per cent decrease.
The average price for a detached home was $911,262, up 7.5 per cent over December, and up 2.9 per cent year-over-year.
MPAC said 41 per cent of detached homes across Ontario are now estimated to be worth more than $1 million, compared to just six per cent 10 years ago.
In the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area, more than 78 per cent of detached homes are valued at more than $1 million today, compared to about 12 per cent in 2013.
Homebuyers looking for options under $500,000 in Ontario might have the best luck in communities like Belleville, Chatham-Kent, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Thunder Bay and Windsor.
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