Backing out of a home purchase in Canada after you’ve waived all conditions can cost you well over $100,000 beyond your lost deposit. That’s a risk more buyers are taking as competition pushes them to drop the protections that once came standard in any offer. Here’s what you actually need to know. Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate
Across Canada, about 4.4 million households rent while nearly 10.9 million own, but those numbers flip in certain neighbourhoods and regions. According to Statistics Canada data, the national homeownership rate sits at 66.5%, meaning roughly one in three households rents. In some parts of the country, that share is much higher — and in a few, renters actually outnumber owners.
One in five Canadians will be 65 or older by 2026, and that single demographic shift is reshaping what buyers want from a home. The same research from Zoocasa’s 2026 housing market predictions shows that half of working homeowners plan to use a future home sale to fund retirement. That means smaller homes are no longer a fallback option. They’re
If you’ve been renting in Canada for a few years, you’re probably paying a lot less than someone who just signed a lease down the hall. That gap — between what new tenants pay and what long-term renters pay — has grown from 7% in 1996 to 34% in 2021 across Canadian cities. In Toronto, it hit 52%. That single
You walk into an apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows, an open-plan kitchen, and clean modern finishes. It photographs beautifully. Six months later you are paying noticeably more for heating and cooling than a neighbour in a similar-sized unit, you smell cooking from three floors away, and you hear every footstep above you. The building itself is the problem — and it
A single problematic tenant can cost a landlord thousands in missed rent, legal fees, and repairs. According to TransUnion, 44% of evictions among property management companies could have been avoided through better screening. That figure explains why Canadian landlords are digging deeper into applications than ever before. Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you make a
Sixty-eight percent of Canadians believe buying a home is less attainable now than it was for their parents, according to a BMO survey. That number climbs even higher among Gen Z and younger Millennials. In Vancouver, housing costs now sit at 14.5 times the median household income. Toronto is at 11.8 times. Victoria is at 10.7 times. For a growing
First-time buyers now take an average of 4.4 years to save for a down payment, and 41% rely on a financial gift from family to make the leap. Many don’t realise that the total cost of buying goes far beyond the purchase price — and that ignoring a few key programs can cost them tens of thousands. Disclosure: Some links
Canadian cities are shutting down the short-term rental market. The era of buying a condo purely to rent on Airbnb is ending fast. Cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal are now strictly limiting short-term rentals to primary residences only. The goal is to return housing to long-term residents. With an estimated 235,000 homes currently acting as tourist stays, the pressure
If you own a home in Canada worth $500,000, your annual property tax bill could be anywhere from $1,350 in Vancouver to over $7,000 in Saint John, New Brunswick. That is not a small difference — it is thousands of dollars a year, every year, for the same priced home. Most buyers focus on mortgage rates and purchase price, but
For the first time in years, Canadian renters have a meaningful edge. Average asking rents have fallen year-over-year in 24 of 40 major markets, with Toronto down 3.9% and Vancouver down 5.9% compared to last year. A successful negotiation can save between $600 and $1,800 per year — money that stays in your pocket rather than going to a landlord.
Back in 2012, Canada saw about 10,000 apartments built inside mixed-use developments — buildings where shops, restaurants, or offices sit on the ground floor and homes sit above. By 2021, that number had jumped to 43,700. That’s more than a fourfold increase in less than a decade, and it tells you something about how Canadian cities are being built right
