Nearly half of Canada's $6.1 trillion home value is concentrated in Ontario

Ontario real estate is searing hot right now, and with such a fiercely-competitive homebuying market known for its sky-high prices, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that the province now represents almost half of the country's home value.

A breakdown of 2020 home assessment values provided by Statistics Canada highlights what housing news outlet Better Dwelling calls "an obscene valuation," the country's combined home values soaring to $6.1 trillion.

Canadian Residential Real Estate Now Worth Over $6.1 Trillion, More Than 3x GDP#ToRe #VanRe https://t.co/VCA8fhOQPA

— Better Dwelling (@BetterDwelling) November 26, 2021

The collective value of Canadian homes grew 2.5 per cent last year, adding $146 billion even in the face of a public health crisis and a sputtering economy. The type of global disaster you'd expect would bring a housing market to its knees seems to have had little impact on the long-term situation.

Home prices are now valued at more than 300 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). In contrast, home values only represented 170 per cent of the U.S. GDP during the same period, shining a light on just how expensive it is to buy a home in Canada compared to our neighbours to the south.

But the numbers out of Ontario are genuinely shocking. The province's combined home values — reaching $2.8 trillion last year — represent almost half of the total national assessment value.

A whopping 46.6 per cent of Canada's home prices are concentrated in the province, not bad considering Ontario only makes up 38.26 per cent of the national population.

Ontario's main competitor for the title of "most insane housing market in Canada" is actually quite far behind when measured by the metric of combined home value.

British Columbia is home to 23.5 per cent of the country's home values, at $1.4 trillion. Still pretty impressive, with just 13 per cent of Canadians calling B.C. home.

If these figures sound high, numbers for 2021 and 2022 may come as an even bigger surprise. The Canadian Real Estate Association is forecasting continued national price growth into next year as the housing supply remains critically tight.