The best Canadian cities for rent or purchasing a home is the foremost thing any immigrant would search for in their time of need.
Renting is difficult in this environment of skyrocketing inflation and rising living expenses, and buying a home may seem like a pipe dream.
Living in a big city like Vancouver, where the average rent makes the national record high appear cheap, makes it much harder.
Fortunately, online real estate marketplace Point2Homes examined Canada’s 50 largest cities to compare how much renters and homeowners spend on housing costs and to identify the areas where renting or owning a home is the most affordable and most expensive.
So, if you’re trying to decide whether to rent or buy a home and wondering which towns won’t break the bank, keep reading.
More than 66 percent of Canadians are homeowners (9,955,975), who are almost twice as numerous as renters (4,953,840). The homeownership rate in Canada is, however, declining according to the 2021 Census, and many Canadians are delaying getting a mortgage.
Renter households have grown three times faster over the last ten years, showing that homeownership is edging further and further away from the average person. Renters save $289 CAD per year on average compared to homeowners, which is one of the reasons more Canadians are renting.
Best Canadian cities for rent or purchasing a home- which is expensive or cheap?
The city has a significant impact on the variation in monthly rent costs. The average monthly increase for homeowners in Kelowna, British Columbia, was 5.08 percent, or $78 CAD, while in Brampton, Ontario, it was 41.52 percent or nearly $676 CAD.
Minute Differences Between Renter & Owner Shelter Costs
In Surrey, British Columbia, homeowners pay an extra $584 CAD each month compared to renters. Since the last Census in 2016, housing expenses have increased dramatically in Surrey and Brampton, by 25.5 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
In terms of a percentage, homeowners in Montreal spend $563 CAD more on housing than renters do. 64 percent of Montrealers live in rentals compared to 36 percent who own their homes.
The following table lists the Canadian cities with the largest monthly cost disparity between homeowners and renters.
Major differences between Renter and Owner Shelter Costs
Cities in Quebec are more feasible than in the rest of Canada. The most expensive provinces are British Columbia and Ontario, where rents are high and a large proportion of people spend 30% or more of their income on housing.
Trois-Rivières stands out as the only city among those Point2 studied where housing expenses for both tenants and owners are less than $1,000 CAD per month.
Best Canadian cities for rent or purchasing a home- lower shelter costs
The majority of cities in Quebec during the analysis consist of lower shelter costs for renters, compared to the national average of $1,209 CAD.
Quebec communities often have cheaper housing expenses for homeowners in addition to Montreal. In Lévis and Saguenay, 89 and 88 percent of all households, respectively, spend less than 30 percent of their income on housing.
On the other hand, the cost of housing is some of the highest in Ontario and British Columbia cities. The top 15 most expensive housing costs are all centered in these two provinces.
The cost of housing in Oakville, Ontario, is the highest in Canada ($2,384 CAD for homeowners and $2,146 CAD for renters), followed by Richmond Hill, Milton, and Vaughan.
In contrast to Toronto, where the average cost of renting is $1,562 CAD and the average cost of purchasing a home is $2,038 CAD, inhabitants of Markham, Brampton, and Ajax spend considerably more for housing.
However, house owners in these cities don’t appear discouraged by the high monthly prices. All of these cities have a majority of homeowners, ranging from 86 percent in Vaughan to 78 percent in Oakville.
Additionally, there are several Ontario cities where housing expenses are more affordable for tenants and owners, like Windsor, St. Catharines, and Greater Sudbury.
In the cities of B.C., whether you own or rent, your monthly housing costs are higher than the national average for both owners and renters. B.C. renter costs range from $1,324 CAD in Abbotsford to $1,672 CAD in Richmond. Meanwhile, owner housing costs range from $1,614 CAD in Kelowna to $2,084 CAD in Vancouver.
Conclusion
If you are currently renting and wish to purchase a home, paying an additional $857 CAD monthly, or over 71 percent might happen. In spite of this, moving is less costly in locations like Winnipeg or Quebec City.
In the ten largest cities in Canada, homeowners may wind up spending $628 CAD more than renters in Winnipeg. Meanwhile, $671 CAD more than renters in Quebec City, and $1,234 CAD more in Toronto.
