What kind of house does $680,000 get you across Canada?

When Canadians ask whether they are getting good value for a home they intend on buying, they are usually focused on the local: the province, city or neighbourhood they want to live in defines their sense of what’s affordable.

The Canadian Real Estate Association collects local sales data from across the country and creates a national benchmark price for the cost of a home, which it releases every month. In October, that price fell to $679,600, down 0.4 per cent from September and down 3 per cent year-over-year.

However, that number includes many kinds of homes in Canada: ownership apartments, detached single-family houses, townhouses, farms, duplexes, the list goes on. And each of those categories have local market pressures that shape the price.