Maclean's Magazine has come out with its list of Canada's best affordable places to live and St. Catharines is among the cities where "buyers can find good-sized, high-value, often adorable family homes without breaking the bank."
St. Catharines was one of three Ontario cities to make Maclean's ranking of places where the benchmark home price still falls under the national average of $700,000. In St. Catharines, the benchmark housing price is $598,000.
"The good news is that for many people, homeownership is still possible—if they’re willing to explore new terrain," Maclean's Magazine states in its September 2024 issue. "These aren’t boring backwaters: each city we’re featuring is buzzing with economic activity, innovative new businesses, delicious dining options and cultural touchstones."
Maclean's calls St. Catharines a mid-sized Canadian city that is coming back to life and experiencing a reverse migration.
"Newcomers do double-takes at the bargains," writes Mark Pupo in the feature about St. Catharines. "You can own a button-cute workers’ cottage on a quiet, leafy street for under $400,000. For a few hundred thousand more, you can live out your mid-century-mod dreams in a side split with a backyard that can accommodate a pool, a hot tub, an outdoor kitchen and, heck, throw in a pickleball court while you’re at it."
It's not just St. Catharines' affordability that Maclean's calls out. The feature notes the city's economic growth, connect to Toronto through daily Go Transit service and quality of life.
"St. Catharines is jaw-droppingly beautiful," writes Pupo. "They don’t call it the Garden City for nothing: green space, like the hiker’s paradise of the Twelve Mile Creek or the Frederick Law Olmsted–designed, rose-filled Montebello Park, is never more than steps away."
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