Buying & Selling

People looking to buy a home in Canada should look at advertisements placed by real estate agencies in national newspapers, magazines or on the internet.

Houses can be bought and sold either through private sale between two interested parties at an agreed upon price (the most common method) or through auction, which is when the property in question is open for public inspection. All interested parties (or a representative) are required to be present at the sale in order to bid. The auction begins with a base bid amount and proceeds from there, with the successful purchaser winning through placing the highest bid.

In recent years, the average cost of housing has been shown to vary greatly depending upon which province and city you buy in. For example, the most expensive cities to purchase property in are Vancouver and Victoria in the province of British Columbia (average housing from around $300,000 CDN for Vancouver and $230,000 for Victoria) and at the less expensive end, Regina in Saskatchewan province and Winnipeg, Manitoba (buyers can expect to pay $75,000 to $85,000 CDN on average in these cities).