Maritime provinces top chart of best places to buy real estate in Canada

Several Maritime cities ranked as the best place to buy real estate in Canada this year.

If you’re looking to jump into the real estate market, there is no better place than the Maritimes to open your cheque books, according to new data.

“I don’t think anybody was surprised to hear that Fredericton is the top place in Canada to buy real estate,” said Christina Oliver, who is heading into her third year as a realtor with Exit Realty Advantage in Fredericton.

Considering factors like the safety index, long-term value and affordability, MoneySense Magazine points to the Maritimes time and time again for 2025 real estate.

“More than ever people are considering the community of where they live. People want to be near schools…or there’s a lot of places where you have a commute to work that’s over an hour and in Fredericton, we’re in our cars for 15 minutes and we start to get a little bit cranky about it,” said Oliver. “I’ve always liked to think of Fredericton as one of Canada’s best kept secrets.”

New Brunswick took three of the top five positions in the ranking.

Fredericton was ranked number one with a 3.74 overall score out of five. Saint John placed third with a score of 3.55 and the Greater Moncton area came in fourth place with a final score of 3.47.

“Despite the fact that in the last five years our average sale price has increased over 100 per cent, we still remain one of the most affordable markets in the country and if you look across Canada it’s almost impossible to find a single detached home under $400,000 and we have plenty here,” said EXP Realty realtor Natalie Davison.

For Davison, Greater Moncton’s fourth place finish isn’t surprising. She describes the area as a triple threat, pointing to affordability, opportunity and lifestyle.

“People just get more for their money and I think everybody’s looking for value, so it’s not necessarily about what is cheap, it’s about what provides value and the value equation is how much does it cost versus how much do I get,” she said.

In Nova Scotia, the Halifax-Dartmouth area ranked 12th overall across Canada with a final score of 3.10.

Remax Nova broker Ryan Hartlen says 12th place sounds right for Nova Scota’s “hidden gem” considering it’s not as affordable as its New Brunswick counterparts.

“If you’re comparing us to Toronto or to Montreal or to Vancouver, we’ve got a lot of the same big city attributes, but the value is a little better here,” he said. “We used to have that sort of vibe where younger people growing up would be leaving the province to go seek work elsewhere and that I don’t think is happening as often as it used to.

“The other thing as well is we’ve got a whole different cultural experience in the province now.”

Experts in all three of the Maritime cities who spoke with CTV News said the market is still leaning slightly in the seller’s favour with the most demand happening for houses in the price point of $300,000-400,000.

According to MoneySense Magazine, this month the housing inventory reached its highest level nationally since May 2020, which is helping to maintain a relatively balanced real estate market overall.

“From December 2024 to January 2025, new listings across Canada increased 11 per cent month-over-month, and months of inventory jumped from 3.9 months to 4.2 months,” the magazine said.