Put C$500K, C$1M, C$2M, or C$3M on the table. Browse 20 modeled homes per city and budget, compare 50 markets, and check every result against its source.
The city-centre benchmark is about 80 m² in Toronto and 333 m² in Regina. That is a 4× floor-area gap before considering lot value, condition, neighbourhood, or home type.
These were active asking-price snapshots when checked on July 11, 2026. The photos and facts come from the linked listings, not from the model used elsewhere on this page.
The Regina example asks C$8,000 less but lists 46% more floor area and three more bedrooms than the Toronto example.
Actual listing photoA three-storey townhome rather than a detached estate, with four bedrooms and a ravine-facing deck.
Actual listing photoA large detached home with seven listed bedrooms, two kitchens, a courtyard, and parking for seven vehicles.
Actual listing photoA five-bedroom lake-community house with a finished basement and a triple attached garage.
Actual listing photoA two-bedroom East Vancouver townhouse with a lock-off studio and one underground parking space.
Actual listing photoA six-bedroom suburban home with a finished walkout level, double garage, and a quarter-acre lot.
Regina currently leads this view for floor area. Switch location lens, filter a region, or add cities to the head-to-head board.
At C$1 million, the benchmark implies about 333 m² in central Regina versus about 80 m² in central Toronto.
Moncton provides some of Canada's strongest space per dollar, while local earning power remains below larger metros.
Edmonton combines one of the lowest price-to-income ratios in the catalogue with enough outer-city buying power for a large family home.
Winnipeg offers roughly three times Toronto's central floor area at the same budget under this apartment-price benchmark.
Cape Town leads the hub for space per Canadian dollar, particularly outside the centre.
A Canadian-dollar budget produces very large modeled floor area, while the local-income ratio shows a much harder resident market.
Foreign-currency buying power is strong, but local financing and income conditions tell a very different story.
Large apartments are possible at every featured budget, although local purchasing power remains much tighter.
The contributor benchmark implies far more space than Toronto, but real detached and escarpment-area prices vary widely.
Saskatoon gives a seven-figure buyer a large-home footprint, but the benchmark does not price the lot separately.
Halifax remains less expensive than Toronto or Vancouver, although its gap has narrowed and local incomes are lower.
The centre-to-suburb price gap is comparatively narrow, so location can matter more than raw floor area.
A Canadian-dollar budget travels far in floor area, but the local income multiple reveals a very different affordability story.
Kitchener offers a moderate space advantage over the GTA, especially beyond the central transit corridor.
Kelowna's outer-area benchmark buys substantial space, though lake proximity and view premiums can erase much of that advantage.
Chicago delivers the strongest large-city buying power in this North American set, especially outside downtown.
Ottawa's reported centre and outside benchmarks are unusually close, so buyers should rely heavily on neighbourhood-level comparables.
A move beyond the core produces a meaningful space gain while retaining dense-neighbourhood housing options.
Victoria sits between Canada's prairie markets and Vancouver, with a meaningful but not dramatic space gain outside the centre.
Quebec City shows one of the catalogue's largest Canadian centre-to-outside gaps, more than doubling modeled space outward.
Foreign-currency buying power looks strong, while the local income multiple is the highest in this comparison.
The outward space gain is large, but property remains deeply unaffordable relative to local earnings.
Melbourne offers materially more central floor area than Sydney, with a smaller location penalty.
Moving outside central Miami nearly doubles modeled floor area, before accounting for building and insurance quality.
Dubai’s outer-area apartment buying power is strong relative to other global business hubs.
Los Angeles has only a modest centre-to-outside apartment-price gap in this dataset despite enormous neighbourhood variation.
High local incomes pull Seattle's price-to-income ratio below many global peers even though prices per square metre remain high.
Canadian-dollar buying power looks respectable outside Lisbon, while the local-income multiple remains very high.
Outer Auckland produces a useful space gain, though local incomes still face a double-digit price multiple.
Rome's outer districts offer about two and a half times the central floor area, but local affordability remains strained.
A central budget usually buys vertical space; moving outward adds rooms before it adds land.
Berlin sits between high-cost western capitals and the more spacious markets in this global field.
Buying power is close to Toronto, with the sharpest trade-off between central access and interior space.
The centre premium is pronounced, making outer districts a much stronger space play at every tier.
Prague is no longer a low-cost ownership market relative to local income, especially in central districts.
High local incomes improve the ratio, but even an outer-area purchase remains expensive per square metre.
Tokyo rewards a wider search radius: outer-area buying power is more than twice the central result.
Strong household income partly offsets high prices, while the outer-city space gain is substantial.
Copenhagen's high prices are partly offset by high disposable income, but central space remains limited at lower budgets.
Central buying power is constrained, but the outer-city result is closer to Vancouver than London.
Taipei's price-to-income ratio is among the catalogue's highest, despite lower prices per square metre than Hong Kong.
Boston's central price is among North America's highest, while outer areas roughly double the modeled floor area.
Vienna's central ownership market is expensive even though the city is known for a large, separate social-rental system.
Even a seven-figure Canadian budget often means compact living in the core, with a moderate gain beyond it.
The core premium is extreme: the same budget can buy nearly three times the space outside central districts.
Central London has the steepest core premium in Europe here; an outward move more than doubles buying power.
Private central property remains extremely space-constrained; public HDB housing follows a different market system.
Seoul is one of the hardest levels in the hub: even C$2 million buys a compact central apartment equivalent.
Zurich combines exceptional local income with some of the highest purchase prices per square metre in the catalogue.
Hong Kong is the hub’s toughest space market and its highest income multiple.
At $1M, Toronto leads this board with about 80 m² under the city-centre lens.
| City | Buying power | Likely profile | Est. median income | Price / income | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Toronto Canada | 80 m²865 ft² | 2 beds Condo apartment | $86.9K | 11.5× 11.5 years for this budget | |
2 Tokyo Japan | 67 m²722 ft² | 1–2 beds Condominium apartment | $60.4K | 16.3× 16.6 years for this budget | |
3 London United Kingdom | 35 m²377 ft² | Studio / 1 bed Compact flat or leasehold unit | $109.5K | 16.7× 9.1 years for this budget |
Every card is a modeled buying scenario, not a listing. It starts with the city's dated price-per-square-metre benchmark, then applies a disclosed neighbourhood or condition band.
A static benchmark for quick comparison. The interactive tour above recalculates all 50 markets at every budget.
| City | Estimated area | Likely profile | Est. median income | Price / income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | 80 m² / 865 ft² | 2 beds | $86.9K | 11.5× |
| Regina | 333 m² / 3586 ft² | 3+ beds | $67K | 4.0× |
| Chicago | 173 m² / 1866 ft² | 3+ beds | $127.3K | 3.4× |
| London | 35 m² / 377 ft² | Studio / 1 bed | $109.5K | 16.7× |
| Tokyo | 67 m² / 722 ft² | 1–2 beds | $60.4K | 16.3× |
| Hong Kong | 25 m² / 274 ft² | Studio / 1 bed | $81.6K | 35.2× |
| Cape Town | 303 m² / 3262 ft² | 3+ beds | $41.5K | 5.9× |
This tool is designed to make unlike markets more comparable without pretending they are identical. The method is simple enough to audit, and every important limitation stays visible.
Budget ÷ apartment purchase price per m². We show both city-centre and outside-centre estimates.
The income benchmark is derived from Numbeo’s documented median-family-income model, not a local census table.
The same apartment benchmark is used across cities. Detached houses, land, and luxury segments can differ sharply.
The gallery applies disclosed -28% to +35% price-per-m² bands for condition and location. These are modeled examples, not observed sales.
Price-per-square-metre and price-to-income values come from Numbeo’s rolling city property dataset, captured from June 5 to July 11, 2026. Most records were requested in Canadian dollars; several comparison records show the source's Canadian-dollar conversion directly. Numbeo is crowdsourced, so use the figures as broad market indicators and verify with local transaction data before making a decision.
Numbeo models median family disposable income as 1.5 times the average net salary and compares it with a 90 m² apartment priced at the average of centre and outside-centre rates. That creates a consistent global proxy, but it is not the same as gross household income reported by Statistics Canada, the U.S. Census Bureau, or another national agency.
OECD household-income definitionsThe result ranges from a micro-apartment in the most expensive Asian and European cores to a family-sized apartment equivalent in lower-cost markets. Use the city-centre and outside-centre switch because the location premium can change the estimated floor area by more than two times.
No. The 4,000 cards are modeled buying scenarios derived from dated city price-per-square-metre benchmarks. Images are illustrative, addresses are not invented, and every card links to its benchmark source.
The catalogue covers 50 cities, four budgets, and 20 scenarios per city at each budget. The scenarios vary location, condition, and price-per-square-metre bands around each city's observed benchmark; they are not copied listings.
BubbleWatch divides the selected Canadian-dollar budget by the city’s reported apartment purchase price per square metre. The result excludes taxes, legal fees, financing, maintenance, and recurring building charges.
No. It is an estimated median family disposable-income benchmark derived from Numbeo’s documented price-to-income method. It is useful for a consistent global comparison but should not replace official local census or tax data.
Not necessarily. Foreign-buyer eligibility, taxes, financing, property tenure, and residency rules differ sharply. The market cards flag major caveats, but a local lawyer and tax adviser are needed before acting.
Move from the global lens to detailed Canadian affordability data.
Estimate a Canadian purchase limit using income, debts, and mortgage rules.
Compare the unrecoverable costs and long-term trade-offs.