Known as the “Gateway to the North,” Edmonton is Alberta’s capital and its northernmost metropolitan area. It serves as an access point to the Northwest Territories and as a business centre for the diamond mining and oil sands industries in northern Alberta. With a population of around 900,000 people, Edmonton is the second-largest city in the province and the fifth-largest in Canada. It’s also an educational hub, with the University of Alberta, MacEwan University and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) all located within city limits. Edmonton is also a cultural hot spot—the city hosts more than 50 grassroots art, music and culinary events each year.
To simplify the task of buying a home in Edmonton, MoneySense partnered with Zoocasa—a full-service tech brokerage—on a guide to the city’s top neighbourhoods this year, as part of the 2022 edition of Where to Buy Real Estate in Canada. The neighbourhood rankings are based on local real estate data and current housing trends, Zoocasa crunched local real estate data and considered long-term trends to reveal the Edmonton neighbourhoods that offer the greatest value and price-growth potential.
If you’re looking beyond the Edmonton area, our guide includes a national ranking of cities and regions, as well as information on the top neighbourhoods in 12 other markets across Canada (view them by tapping or clicking on the menu above). The rankings are based on data collected at the end of March 2022, and interviews were conducted in March and April. Read more about our methodology.
Where to buy real estate in Edmonton
To view all the data in the table, slide the columns right or left using your fingers or mouse. You can filter or rearrange the rankings by using the search tool or clicking on column headings. You can also download the data to your device by tapping on the Excel, CSV or PDF icons.
How to read the table:
- Benchmark price 2021: The composite benchmark price as of Dec. 31, 2021. It represents all property types, including attached and detached homes, townhouses/row units and apartment units. Read about how benchmark prices are calculated.
- 1-year, 3-year and 5-year growth: The percentage increase or decrease in the composite benchmark price (all property types) over each time frame.
- Value, economics and accessibility: These neighbourhood characteristics are each scored on a scale of five, with five representing the most value for your money, high levels of income and education, and ease of travel by foot, bike and public transit. To see how we determine these scores, read our methodology.
- Children: The neighbourhood’s percentage of households with kids.
Why we’re watching Edmonton
Though energy is the largest employment sector and many Canadians continue to migrate to Edmonton to work on or around the oil patch, the city has many other thriving industries. Due in part to the University of Alberta and NAIT, its tech and research sectors are booming. It continues to have strong agriculture, financial services and manufacturing sectors, and thanks to the proximity of the Canadian Rockies, Edmonton also has a flourishing tourism industry. The city is also a distribution point for CN railway and facilitates the flow of goods across Canada.
Edmonton’s downtown core is undergoing a long-term revitalization process that began in 2016, with roughly $750 million being put toward development in housing, retail and transit.
The COVID-19 pandemic initially stunted growth within the downtown core. As hockey games (Edmonton is home to the Oilers) and tourism were halted, and many residents transitioned to working remotely, fewer people had reason to spend time in the city centre. Demand for downtown condos and apartments fell. By the end of March 2020, home sales had dipped 2.6% and new listings had dropped by 14% compared to March of the previous year.
Despite the decline caused by the pandemic, real estate prices in Edmonton accelerated through 2021. By the end of the year, the benchmark price of a home was $18,000 higher compared to the same time in 2020, sitting at $337,983. The market has likely benefited from an uptick in new residents from outside the province. According to Statistics Canada, the second quarter of 2021 saw the highest number of interprovincial moves since 1991, and Alberta was one of the top destinations.
Edmonton’s future real estate outlook
Home prices in Edmonton experienced moderate growth in 2021, but the benchmark price didn’t quite hit the record highs seen in other cities across the country. In fact, Edmonton’s home prices peaked back in June 2007, when the benchmark price was $376,000. In February 2022, the benchmark price was $348,900.
