VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Century 21 Canada’s annual Prince per Square Foot survey reveals Canada has no one real estate story. The often talked about major urban markets of the GTA and Greater Vancouver area have seen price declines and, across the board, sales volumes have declined this year.
But less talked about is the contrast seen in some smaller communities in Atlantic Canada, Alberta, and the Prairies, where prices are up 10 – 30 per cent this year – but to rates still far below those in other metro centers.
The annual survey compares the price per square foot of properties sold in almost 50 communities, large and small and in every province, between January 1 and June 30 this year to the same period of previous years. In many cases, it has data going back to 2018 for both metro centers and smaller communities.
“We’ve seen huge variations in pricing trends in the first half of 2025, as people in different communities adjust to headlines and the uncertainty caused by the tariff situation in different ways,” says Todd Shyiak, Executive Vice President of CENTURY 21 Canada. “The GTA is seeing the toughest market in years, while we’re seeing price strength in some Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Atlantic Canada communities. Anecdotally, we are hearing from agents that many clients are seeking livable communities with lower real estate prices this year, continuing a trend we started seeing during the pandemic.”
He adds the survey looks at pricing trends over several years across Canada, and that this year the pricing data needs to be taken in context of overall sales volumes slowing due to economic uncertainty.
“That said, there are early signs the market became somewhat more active in June, at the end of our survey period, but overall we anticipate a “wait and see” approach from many prospective buyers and sellers for the rest of the year,” Shyiak says.
According to this year’s data Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba saw a continuation of past year’s upward price per square foot trends, indicating a sustained interest in the relatively affordable homes of the Prairie region. In that region larger markets generally saw smaller increases, even a few nominal declines, while mid-sized markets such as Red Deer, AB and Brandon, MB saw double-digit rises.
The steepest increases across the country were in the Atlantic region, with New Brunswick seeing a big price per square foot increase for detached homes in Fredericton and St. John. Elsewhere in Atlantic Canada, home prices by square foot decreased in St. John’s, NL, but remained on par with 2021 – 2022 benchmarks.
In the major city condo markets, the GTA experienced notable decreases, with most markets dipping to prices in line with those in 2022 and downtown Toronto dipping to the lowest level since 2018. Detached homes in the GTA have not been exempted, with Hamilton houses seeing the biggest percentage decrease in the region at 24 per cent. On the west coast, downtown Vancouver condos decreased in price a modest amount, though overall Metro Vancouver prices stepped back to about 2020 – 2021 levels as suburban house prices declined.
Notably, the sales volume in many metropolitan areas trended downward for the first half of this year, likely due to economic uncertainty caused by the tariffs imposed by the US, though many real estate boards report signs of an uptick going into the second half of the year.
Regional highlights:
Atlantic Canada
Markets in Atlantic …