Where to find a home under $1 million in Canada + MORE Sep 4th

Mortgage arrears are edging higher in Toronto and Vancouver amid rising unemployment, but CIBC says strong equity buffers and low loan losses keep the portfolio resilient.

If you figured you’d never be able to buy a home in Canada, we have some good news: home prices have been stalled or falling in most of the country’s major markets over the past two years. Mortgage rates are higher than they were five years ago, which affects the size of monthly payments, but the number of homes with north-of-million-dollar price tags has been shrinking.

As of July, the Canadian Real Estate Association’s National Composite MLS Home Price Index was down 3.4% year-over-year. The non-seasonally adjusted national average home price stood at $672,784.

Indeed, if you peruse our Where to Buy Real Estate in Canada guide for 2025, tabulated by our research partner Zoocasa, all but four markets—Bancroft, Quinte district, and Northumberland Hills in Ontario, and the Fraser Valley in B.C.—had average home prices under $1 million as of year-end 2024. 

The benchmark prices used here represent all kinds of units: single-family houses, ground-level townhouses, and condominiums…

As a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), a common question I hear from Canadians is how to better understand their debt. Questions like: How did I get here? What is the best approach to paying my debt off?

Many Canadians have debt of different amounts and for many different reasons. Common types of debts can include car loans, credit card debt, lines of credit and personal loans, and mortgages. 

Canadian consumer debt reached $2.54 trillion in the third quarter (Q3) of 2024, according to credit bureau Equifax Canada. That’s a 4% increase from the same period last year, with non-mortgage debt up 3.8% from Q3 2023. The average consumer debt is $21,810, up $796 from the year before. Overall credit card debt continued to rise in 2024 (up 9.4% over 2023), partly due to population growth and partly because Canadians are carrying a higher average balance. 

The reality is that a lot of Canadians are struggling financially. A recent survey by insolvency trustee Harris & Partners shows that 57% of those who responded said their income is not enough to cover basics like rent, food, and utilities…