Photo: Gogerr · CC BY-SA 4.0A home in St. Catharines is worth 21% less than the middle of Ontario’s towns
That is a median of $548,000 at the 2021 census, set beside $695,000 for Ontario’s towns. Statistics Canada doesn’t publish sales in Ontario, so nothing here says what St. Catharines’s homes actually sold for. The 2024 property assessment puts the median residential property at $241,000. Ontario still assesses at 2016 values (MPAC’s 1 January 2016 base): a figure to set against other Ontario towns, not against prices.
Two ways to price a home in St. Catharines
Two sources, each set against Ontario’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
- $581K
- Owners
- 37,920
- Ontario’s towns
- $695K
- The typical Canadian town
- $406K
all residential, MPAC 2016 base
- Ontario’s towns
- $232K
Census 2021 (Statistics Canada); Canadian Housing Statistics Program, tables 46-10-0099 and 46-10-0093; Québec rôle d’évaluation foncière 2026 (MAMH).
St. Catharines’s houses carry 2 times the assessment of its condos
Assessors listed 47,375 residential properties in St. Catharines for 2024, 71% of them detached houses and 9% condos.
Median assessment by type, 2024 the tick is the median of Ontario’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 Ontario’s towns with their own figure; assessments compare within a province only.
33% of St. Catharines’s homes predate 1961, against 22% for Ontario’s towns
At the 2021 census, 56% of St. Catharines’s 58,905 occupied homes were single-detached houses.
Homes by period of construction the tick is the median of Ontario’s towns
Homes by kind
| St. Catharines | Ontario | Canada | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Condominiums | 11% | 7% | 8% |
| Needing major repairs | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| Too small for the household | 4% | 5% | 3% |
| Households in core housing need | 12% | 9% | 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.
Permits in St. Catharines ran at 8.7 homes a year per 1,000, where Ontario’s towns ran at 15
Some 494 homes a year: 2,962 in all were permitted in St. Catharines from 2018 to 2023. Apartments and other multi-unit buildings dominate: only 8% were single-unit, against 66% for Ontario’s towns. Figures for monthly permits are published for the St. Catharines-Niagara metro area as a whole, not for St. Catharines alone.
The busiest year: 2020, with 942 new homes
New homes a year per 1,000 homes
Up 17%: 3,312 new homes in the year to August 2026
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.
St. Catharines is cheaper than most of Ontario’s towns: 21% under their $695,000 median
871 of Ontario’s towns (2,500 people or more), by median value at the 2021 census, dearest first.
Census 2021, owners’ estimates; towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, no city as a whole, no reserve.
St. Catharines’s neighbours by home value
The places around St. Catharines at the 2021 census: median and average value, and how many own.
| Town | Median home value | Average | Owners | km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Catharines | $548K | $581K | 64% | |
| Thorold | $552K | $582K | 69% | 7.3 |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake | $900K | $1.01M | 85% | 11.1 |
| Niagara Falls | $552K | $596K | 70% | 14.2 |
| Beamsville | $695K | $734K | 84% | 15.3 |
| Pelham | $750K | $819K | 88% | 15.6 |
Census 2021 values; km.
Questions about property prices in St. Catharines
Is St. Catharines expensive for Ontario?
Cheaper than the middle: Ontario’s towns come to $695,000, St. Catharines to less.
How many households in St. Catharines are in core housing need?
In St. Catharines, 12% of households are in core housing need, against 9% for Ontario’s towns: their home costs too much, is too small or needs major repairs, and nothing suitable nearby costs under 30% of their income.
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).