Northern home prices keep rising despite sharply different sales trends

Home prices rose across northern Canada in 2025 even as sales trends diverged sharply among Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit, according to a new report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Lower borrowing costs supported housing demand nationally, but CMHC found that local employment, demographic trends and supply constraints had a greater influence on sales across the territorial capitals.

In Whitehorse, home sales rose 21% to 634, returning to levels last recorded in 2022. CMHC attributed the rebound to strong population growth over the previous two years, low unemployment and improved borrowing conditions.

Buyers increasingly favoured ground-oriented properties, including detached, semi-detached and row homes, while condominium apartment sales remained at roughly half their recent peak. The average home price rose 7.4% to a record $616,654, led by gains for detached homes.

Yellowknife recorded a more modest recovery, with sales rising 7.4% to 306, in line with the five-year average. New listings increased 10.1%, but sales continued to keep close pace with available supply, leaving conditions “significantly tighter than the national average,” CMHC said.

The city’s average home price increased 5.8% to $524,178 after remaining nearly unchanged the previous year. Employment growth in Yellowknife, particularly within the public sector, helped support demand even as mining weakness weighed on the broader Northwest Territories economy.

Conditions moved in the opposite direction in Iqaluit, where residential land-title transfers fell to 20, down from 24 in 2024 and less than half the recent average. CMHC said fewer working-age residents, high reliance on transient workers and limited supply continued to restrict ownership activity.

Despite the decline in transactions, Iqaluit’s average price edged up 1.9% to $776,556, the slowest increase since 2021. Residential and commercial land in the city is generally leased rather than owned, with leases assigned when properties are transferred.

Residential sales and average home prices by centre,
2021–2025

Total residential sales and aggregate average home price, by centre, by year

Rental availability remains exceptionally limited

The tight supply conditions evident in the ownership market also extended to rentals, despite slower population growth across the North.

Iqaluit’s rental vacancy rate remained at 0.3% for a third consecutive year, representing just six vacant units among nearly 2,000. CMHC said underlying housing needs related to overcrowding and limited housing options kept nearly all types of rental units “virtually fully occupied,” even as groups more likely to rent recorded net outflows.

**Aled ab Iorwerth, deputy chief economist at CMHC**

The median rent across all housing types in Iqaluit reached $3,025, although annual growth slowed to 2.5%, its weakest pace since 2020.

Yellowknife’s vacancy rate fell from 1.9% to 1.3%, despite another year of rental-supply growth. A record increase in the number of one-bedroom units produced little change in availability, while the vacancy rate for two-bedroom units declined to 0.8%. The median rent rose 4.1% to $1,975.

Whitehorse was the only one of the three markets to record a meaningful increase in rental availability. Its vacancy rate rose from 1.3% to 1.9% as slower population growth, including a decline in non-permanent residents, reduced demand for smaller apartments. The median rent increased 4.1% to $1,364.

CMHC expects private-market supply to increase across all three territorial capitals in 2026, supported by units already under construction and stronger permitting activity. However, the agency said the increase is not expected to substantially narrow the gap in per-capita housing starts between the territories and the rest of Canada.

“Addressing persistent barriers such as high construction costs, limited serviced land and labour shortages will be essential to improving housing outcomes in the North,” said Aled ab Iorwerth, CMHC’s deputy chief economist.

Visited 32 times, 32 visit(s) today

Aled ab Iorwerth Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation CMHC home price data home sales homes prices Iqaluit northern canada real estate real estate whitehorse Yellowknife