Here are the major Canadian cities where home prices are still below average

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Home prices continue to rise nearly everywhere across Canada as the pandemic drags on, with staggering price growth recorded in nearly every major region over the past year — and yet, a surprising number of cities still boast house prices well below the national average.

How? Well, the ridiculously high prices of homes in places like Toronto and Vancouver, for starters.

A new report from the real estate brokerage and analysis firm Zoocasa reveals that average home prices in 18 of Canada's 25 largest real estate markets fell below the current national average price of $621,515 last month.

In some of these cities, prices are actually quite far below the national average right now, despite year-over-year price growth in the double digits.

There are 18 Canadian housing markets where the average home price remains below the national average of $621,525: https://t.co/zayTngzgcp pic.twitter.com/XQF0lyLHv7
— Zoocasa (@zoocasa) February 18, 2021

For its report, Zoocasa reviewed Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) home price and sales data for January of 2021.

What analysts found was that 24 of the 25 markets included in the CREA's monthly regional housing statistics posted year-over-year price increases, ranging from a modest five per cent growth all the way up to 41 per cent.

Regina, Saskatchewan was the only city in which average home prices actually fell in January 0f 2021, down by three per cent year-over-year to just $273,885.

Almost half of the 25 cities surveyed by Zoocasa saw homes increase in value by more than 20 per cent between January of 2020 and 2021, but only seven showed average house prices above normal for Canadian real estate.

The average price of a home in the Greater Vancouver Area, for instance, was $1,089,096 last month, up 11 per cent over the previous January. In The Greater Toronto Area, homes went for an average price of $967,885.

Hamilton-Burlington, Kitchener-Waterloo, Niagara, Fraser Valley and Victoria, B.C., also posted average prices above the national average — which itself increased year over year by a whopping 23 per cent.

home prices canada

Regions where home prices are above and below the Canadian average as of January 2021. Image via Zoocasa.

"The overall housing market was highly competitive for home buyers in January, as indicated by the sales-to-new-listings ratio (SNLR) of 70%," reads the Zoocasa report, noting that home sales were up some 35.2 per cent, year-over-year, with 36,897 properties exchanged across Canada.

"Prevalent market conditions in January also put upward pressure on home prices: the national average home price rose 23 per cent annually in January to $621,525."

In terms of the cheapest major Canadian real estate markets, Saint John, New Brunswick, posted an average home price of $199,853 in January.

Here are all 18 of Canada's large cities where home prices are currently below the national average, in case you're looking to buy an affordable property somewhere with a name that people will actually recognize.