Moncton sees some of Canada's sharpest housing price spikes

New report puts Moncton in top 10 list for Canadian areas with largest increase in house prices

Published Mar 16, 2024 • Last updated Mar 16, 2024 • 2 minute read

A "for sale" sign is pictured outside a home in this undated file photo. A recent report listed Greater Moncton in the top 10 areas in Canada with the highest spikes in house prices Photo by Tyler Anderson/Postmedia

Moncton saw the eighth-largest hike in house prices across the country in the last year, according to data from the Canadian Real Estate Association.

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Real estate advisors from CalgaryHomes.ca analyzed figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association between January 2023 and January 2024 to find the average increase or decrease in house prices in areas within provinces (city, county, metro, region, and island) with available data. The areas were then ranked from largest increase to smallest increase to make up the list.

Bancroft, Ont., has the largest increase in house prices in Canada, with a 14.7 per cent rise of $71,200 in a year. The average house price in January 2023 was $484,800, which rose to $556,000 in Jan 2024, the report states.

Greater Moncton was eighth on the list and had a 10.6 per cent spike of $32,800. The city’s average house price was $311,400 and has risen to $344,200 in January 2024.

The report called Moncton a bilingual community with an “exciting living experience for language enthusiasts.”

“Reasons such as promising employment prospects, reliable support networks, and welcoming locals are driving the increasing interest from homebuyers in the Greater Moncton area,” the report stated.

A total of 52 regions were analyzed for the report and other areas that made the list included Calgary, Fraser Valley, Greater Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and Sudbury.

Mike Power, chair of the New Brunswick Real Estate Board, said Moncton is still considered as a desirable location with lower housing prices than other provinces. Traditionally, the prices were lower in Moncton than other urban cities.

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“The reason we have big percentage of [housing price increases] is because we were so low for so long,” he said. “Those prices are just rising because of that.”

People have been flocking the region from western provinces, which is continuing to put pressure on the housing market prices.

“It’s been considered a great value for the money and a great place to live,” he said. “Because there were still a lot of people moving here it didn’t really allow the prices to drop very much.”

Power noted prices in other parts of the country had started to fall, but not in Moncton.

“The CRETA reports tell you that we believe the market, the prices will hold up and a little bit later in the year they will start to trend up again,” he said. “People are believing interest rates will start to come down and as they do the housing market will rebound again

Brunswick News reported earlier this week that a new CREA report says that on a year-over-year basis, sales jumped in Saint John (up 21.2 per cent), Fredericton (16.8 per cent), and Greater Moncton (3.8 per cent) and was unchanged in Northern and Valley Regions.

Layton said she will continue waiting for houses to become more affordable, and has been told she may need to take on a second job to purchase a house on her own.

“It’s just insane to me,” she said.

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