Want to see how wacky Canada’s residential real estate markets have become? Check out the total value of all cities. Statistics Canada (StatsCan) just released the total value for all residential real estate in Canada… for 2015. Despite the “old” number, it’s still useful for making broad market observations. Especially when you realize the whole country saw the value of residential real estate more than double in less than a decade.

Wait… Why Do We Care About Residential Real Estate Values In 2015?

You don’t. Just playin’! It’s not ideal that StatsCan is releasing 2015 data in 2018, but it’s still useful for observing how valuations across the country are evolving. Local pricing is largely obfuscated, which leads to emotional premiums. People are sometimes convinced their city is the next booming capital of industry, and will pay a lot more to ensure their “spot” is reserved. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s just s**ty monetary planning or national exuberance. It’s a lot easier to spot a problem if the whole country is seeing prices double. Rather than debating if permit times is why you’re paying twice what your neighbour did.

Once again, not ideal that we’re working with 2015 numbers – but that’s the speed the government works at. Try not to tell them what happens to prices in 2016, and beyond. We kind of want to see their reaction when they find out there’s been a national housing crisis for three years. Ready? Let’s look at the numbers.

Canadian Residential Real Estate Is Worth $4.8 Trillion

The Canadian residential real estate market may be one of the few things bigger than the debt pile. Stats Can analysts estimates the total residential market was worth $4.821 trillion in 2015, up 7.42% from the year before. The value of all residential real estate more than doubled over a 10 year span. You know, making nice and conservative movements.

Canadian Residential Real Estate Value

In trillions of Canadian dollars.

Source: Statistics Canada, Better Dwelling.

Nearly Half of Residential Real Estate Value Is Held In 3 Cities

The concentration of the Canadian population in just a few metro areas really concentrates the value of real estate. Toronto residential real estate was worth $1.16 trillion, just over 24% of the total market. Vancouver was worth $657.2 billion, 14% of the total market. Montreal represented $439.41 billion, 9% of the total value. The three cities compose over 47% of the total value of all Canadian real estate. Interesting, considering we’re not even including large cities like Calgary here.

Canadian Residential Real Estate Value By City

In trillions of Canadian dollars.

Source: Statistics Canada, Better Dwelling.

The “Value” of These Cities Doubled In Less Than 10 Years

The total value of these cities has been rising fast, even before the the climbs we saw over the past couple of years. Toronto’s value was up 11.83% from the year before. Vancouver saw the total value increase by 15.22% from the year before. Montreal saw an increase of 7.36% from the year before. All 3 of these cities saw the value take less than 10 years to double.

Interesting to see residential values make no decline after double digit gains going into the Great Recession. The pace of growth continued at very high rates, not just in major cities, but across the country. Also worth taking note of the timeline. The whole country was making lofty gains since before foreign capital started landing in significant quantities.

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