The Cheapest Houses You Can Buy in March 2023

In Alberta, the average price of a home in January 2023 was $420,152, which was 4.9 percent less than the same time last year. For the cheapest real estate in Alberta, you can look just about anywhere in the province except Calgary.

Even Edmonton has some very affordable options. A little over 60 km northwest of Lloydminster is the hamlet of Dewberry, home to the World’s Largest Chuckwagon. On the southern edge of town you’ll find this one-bedroom, one-bathroom home, listed for $29,000. The home needs quite a bit of work, giving you the perfect opportunity to play with the home renovation trends for 2023. Want to start a business? Pay a whole $1 extra and you get the corner lot next door too, which is serviced and commercially zoned.

In Saskatchewan, the MLS® HPI benchmark price for a home in January 2023 was $317,400, up 0.6 percent from the same time last year. The cheapest real estate market in the province is the Battlefords, where houses go for less than $200,000 on average.

This one-bedroom, one-bathroom home in Eatonia, some 250 km southwest of Saskatoon and near the border with Alberta, dates from the 1930s and is listed for $19,900. It’s located in the heart of town, along Main Street, on a lot with a big backyard and shed for your gardening projects. The house is in a good enough condition that you can move in and live there while you decide what you want to change to your taste.

In Manitoba, the average price for a home was $319,469 in December 2023, down 5.7 percent from the same time last year. The cheapest real estate market here is Portage la Prairie, where you can now scoop up a home for the average price of $119,500.

The community of Oakburn may be about a three-hour drive away from Winnipeg but it’s only about 60 km to the west of Wasagaming in Riding Mountain National Park. This cute bungalow less than a block north of Main Street has two bedrooms and one bathroom and is listed for $32,000. It has a metal roof and durable tile and wood flooring, which is a rarity in homes in this price range. If small-town living is not for you, this is the perfect property to turn into a vacation rental for hunting and fishing enthusiasts.

In British Columbia, the average price for a home in January 2023 was $867,012, down 16.6 percent from the same time last year. The cheapest real estate in the province is still in the north, far from Metro Vancouver.

This ground floor apartment in Tumbler Ridge, in the foothills of the Rockies near the border with Alberta, is located away from the street and faces an open field and trees with a gazebo. It has one bedroom and one bathroom and Tumbler Ridge Elementary School is less than five minute’s walk away. The unit is listed for $57,000. If you can’t move to Tumbler Ridge just yet, there is a tenant in place, so you can still earn some income from rent.

In Ontario, the average house prince in January 2023 was $798,835, down 20.1 percent from the same time last year. If you’re looking for average house prices under $300,000, get out of the GTA and head northwest to Sault Ste. Marie or Thunder Bay, or north to the Timmins, Cochrane and Timiskaming districts.

About 390 km west of Thunder Bay and on the north bank of the Rainy River that forms the border between Canada and the United States is the village of Barwick. Here, along Main Street, you’ll find this three-bedroom, two-bathroom home listed for $38,900. It’s located on two town lots and has a detached garage big enough for two cars and some workshop space. It’s a fixer-upper with quite a bit of work to be done, so be prepared for surviving a long renovation.

In Quebec, the average home price in January 2023 was $445,396, down 4.4 percent from the same time last year. The cheapest housing markets are Saguenay and Trois-Rivières, where average house prices are under $300,000.
This one-bedroom, one-bathroom bungalow just outside of La Bostonnais, about 180 km north of Trois-Rivières, dates from 1964 and is listed for $35,000. It sits on a slightly sloped lot of 1,522 square metres. The kitchen and living room are open concept that you can divide in a number of stylish ways. The bungalow has electric heating and gets its water from an artesian well. It’s located along Quebec Route 155, with easy access via a driveway that has enough parking space for five vehicles.

In New Brunswick, the MLS® HPI benchmark price in January 2023 was $265,300, up 3.7 percent from the same time last year. For the cheapest real estate, look to Northern New Brunswick, where the average house sells for less than $180,000.

This three-bedroom, one-bathroom house along New Brunswick Route 313 in Petite-Lamèque is listed for $29,000. It’s minutes away from the beach and Moncton is about 260 km to the south. It has a wooden exterior and a loft space with tons of potential. However, the house needs a lot of work, especially new flooring, and isn’t insurable at the moment.

In Nova Scotia, the MLS® HPI benchmark price for a home was $374,600 in January 2023, up 5.3 percent from the same time last year. The cheapest real estate market in the province is Cape Breton, where the average house price is under $180,000.
This two-bedroom, one-bathroom house is located in Fox Island Main, a seaside community a drive of about 100 km southeast of Port Hawkesbury. The house is mere minutes from the beach. There aren’t many other houses around except for the nearby Seabreeze Campground and Cottages, so this fixer-upper is the perfect place to turn into a beach retreat. Heating comes from a wood stove and the property has a septic system. You’ll find two sheds on the property too.

On Prince Edward Island, the MLS® HPI benchmark price for a home in January 2023 was $343,600, up 3.7 percent from the same time last year. The cheapest houses are to be found in the more rural areas rather than in Charlottetown.

This mobile home with add-on is located on a quiet road near the Forest Hill hiking trails in the eastern part of the island. It’s about a 60 km drive southwest to Charlottetown. The house sits among the trees on 0.3 acres. It has two bedrooms, one bathroom, an open-concept kitchen and lounge area and a deck out front. With a bit of work and imagination, you can turn it into one of those fancy mobile homes everyone would want to live in. It’s listed for $60,000.

In January 2023, the MLS® HPI benchmark price for a home in Newfoundland and Labrador was $277,800, up 5.6 percent from the same time last year. For the cheapest real estate, you need to look further afield than St. John’s.

This two-bedroom, one-bathroom house on Twillingate Island is a stroll of a minute or two from the beach. The town of Twillingate is about 6 km to the northwest. Look out the dining room or living room window and you get gorgeous views of Herring Cove and, at the right time of year, the icebergs that Twillingate is so famous for. The property includes a shed where you can store kayaks and other playthings and there is a boat launch nearby. Is it any wonder that Newfoundland and Labrador should be on your destination bucket list?