Thunder Bay leads nation as the hottest market favouring sellers

A new study has found that an Ontario city is once again leading the nation for buyer demand for housing, but it isn’t one of the province’s big markets that typically garner headlines about red-hot activity. A new report from Zoocasa examining sales-to-new-listing ratios found Thunder Bay led the nation when it comes to market conditions favouring sellers.

The city in northwest Ontario had a sales-to-new-listing ratio of nearly 107 per cent, meaning sales outpaced new listings in October by more than seven per cent.

That’s an increase of nearly 27 percentage points over last year when its ratio was at nearly 80 per cent.

By both measures, Thunder Bay would favour sellers. Zoocasa noted that a sales-to-new-listing ratio above 60 per cent indicates market conditions favouring sellers. A ratio between 40 and 60 per cent is considered a market where conditions show a balance between buyers and seller.

And below 40 per cent is a market where buyers have the upper hand, it added.

By comparison, the Greater Toronto Area had a sales-to-new-listing ratio of about 38 per cent, indicating the conditions there favour buyers. Only the Niagara Region had a more favourable metric for buyers among Canadian markets at slightly below 37 per cent.

Both municipalities have seen conditions slide over the past year to favour buyers, the study found.

Calgary was among the 10 markets where conditions are balanced between buyers and sellers. In October, its ratio was close to 59 per cent, down about eight percentage points from last year when market conditions were tighter and favoured sellers.

Edmonton, however, continues to be a seller’s market with a ratio of close to 62 per cent. Yet demand is also down more than 20 percentage points from October 2024 when Alberta’s capital was one of Canada’s hottest resale markets.