
The Flight to Value
In 2020, you could buy an average single family home in the Mauricie region (Trois-rivieres) of Quebec for $200,000.
Those days are gone, however — with average prices having doubled to over $400,000 in the last 4 years.

With the onset of the pandemic and the hot Canadian in real-estate market in 2020, Quebec saw its real-estate sales surge 17 per cent, to the highest level ever recorded.
Canadians needed cheap, big homes with land; Quebec had exactly that.
The Cure for High Prices is High Prices
Most would imagine that, given the magnitude of this price increase, a correction in Mauricie would be imminent.
The trouble however, is that $400,000 is still very affordable compared to most Canadian markets, where the average single family detached home is closer to 700 or 800 thousand dollars.
Mauricie, Fredericton, Moncton And Saint John Prices Virtually Unaffected by Interest Rate Hikes
What is unique about Canada’s most affordable markets is that the blistering fast price gains they experienced during the pandemic have seemingly been totally unaffected by the 10 rate hikes implemented Bank of Canada between March, 2022 and July 2023.
Buyers and sellers seem to think these new prices are fair.
In fact, Since January 2020:
- Prices in Mauricie region have doubled, and are holding;
- Prices in Moncton are up 92%
- Prices in Saint John and Fredericton are up 60%

This is in stark contrast to other Canadian markets, such as Ontario, where prices fell as much as 20% in 2022, and have not recovered.

Nowhere to Go For Homebuyers
This begs a couple of questions:
If Canada’s most affordable housing markets aren’t affordable anymore, where do prospective homebuyers turn?
What is Canada’s relief valve for a shortage of housing supply?
It doesn’t seem like there is one anymore, which could spell trouble.