Photo: jasonwoodhead23 · CC BY 2.0Little is being built in Fort McMurray: 2.6 new homes a year per 1,000, against 7.5 for Alberta’s towns
Owners valued the median home at $472,000 at the 2021 census, and the average at $462,800. For Fort McMurray there is no published sale price, as for every town in Alberta. The 2024 property assessment puts the median residential property at $383,000.
What Fort McMurray’s homes are worth, two ways
Two sources, each set against Alberta’s towns only: provinces measure value differently, so they don’t line up across borders. Treat the values as owners’ May 2021 guesses: they are self-reported, and they come from before rates went up.
median, owners’ estimate
- Average
- $463K
- Owners
- 17,375
- Alberta’s towns
- $400K
- The typical Canadian town
- $406K
all residential
- Alberta’s towns
- $297K
Census 2021 (Statistics Canada); Canadian Housing Statistics Program, tables 46-10-0099 and 46-10-0093; Québec rôle d’évaluation foncière 2026 (MAMH).
On the assessment roll, Fort McMurray’s houses sit 58% above Alberta’s towns
Assessors listed 24,765 residential properties in Fort McMurray for 2024, 54% of them detached houses and 16% condos.
Median assessment by type, 2024 the tick is the median of Alberta’s towns
Canadian Housing Statistics Program, table 46-10-0093 (2024): residential properties on the assessment roll, vacant land left out. The ticks are the median of Alberta’s towns with their own figure; assessments compare within a province only.
Since 2001: 57% of the homes in Fort McMurray, where Alberta’s towns have 24%
25,935 occupied homes stood in Fort McMurray in 2021, and single-detached houses made up 48% of them.
Homes by period of construction the tick is the median of Alberta’s towns
Homes by kind
| Fort McMurray | Alberta | Canada | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Condominiums | 27% | 15% | 8% |
| Needing major repairs | 6% | 5% | 6% |
| Too small for the household | 6% | 4% | 3% |
| Households in core housing need | 5% | 8% | 7% |
Census 2021 (Statistics Canada): occupied private dwellings; core housing need as Statistics Canada defines it. Ticks and columns are medians of the towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more.
The peak came in 2018, when Fort McMurray permitted 120 new homes
Building permits added 457 homes in Fort McMurray between 2018 and 2023: some 76 a year. Single-unit buildings took 53% of them, where Alberta’s towns built 69%.
New homes a year per 1,000 homes
Statistics Canada, tables 46-10-0087 (building permits by census subdivision, 2018–2023: dwelling units created, new construction and conversions) and 34-10-0292 (monthly, metro areas). Per 1,000: units a year over 2019–2023 against occupied homes in 2021.
Fort McMurray is 18% above the $400,000 median of Alberta’s towns
The census values of Alberta’s towns, 478 of them with 2,500+ people, from dearest to cheapest.
Census 2021, owners’ estimates; towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, no city as a whole, no reserve.
Cheaper next to Fort McMurray: La Loche
The places around Fort McMurray at the 2021 census: median and average value, and how many own. Fort McMurray has no close neighbour with figures; the nearest is 125 km away.
| Town | Median home value | Average | Owners | km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort McMurray | $472K | $463K | 67% | |
| La Loche | $150K | $184K | 32% | 125.2 |
Census 2021 values; km.
Questions about property prices in Fort McMurray
How many households in Fort McMurray are in core housing need?
Statistics Canada puts 5% of Fort McMurray’s households in core housing need, a smaller share than the 8% of Alberta’s towns.
Is Fort McMurray expensive for Alberta?
Above the norm for Alberta’s towns, whose median home is worth $400,000; Fort McMurray’s is worth more.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021 · Statistics Canada, Canadian Housing Statistics Program · Statistics Canada, building permits (tables 46-10-0087 and 34-10-0292). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).