Skyrocketing housing prices appear to be fuelling a growing Canadian migration pattern: Young families and early-career workers are abandoning expensive cities for affordable homes in cheaper regions.

Every major city in Ontario — Canada’s most populous province with some of its most expensive homes — recorded a net loss from interprovincial migration for the second year in a row over 12 months to July 1, 2023, according to Statistics Canada data published Wednesday.

Its biggest city, Toronto, lost some 93,000 people to satellite cities and other parts of the province during that period, driven by people under 40, data showed. More than 16,000 moved to other provinces, led by those between the ages of 20 to 39 as well as their preschool children. 

British Columbia’s largest city of Vancouver, which is among North America’s most expensive cities, also recorded a high level of net losses.

In contrast, the oil-rich prairie province of Alberta, which boasts some of the country’s cheapest homes, recorded the biggest gains from migration between provinces. Calgary, Edmonton and two other biggest cities in the province saw a net gain of nearly 46,000 people over the year.

“This report indicates that more affordable home prices and a stronger economic outlook in the prairies make them particularly attractive to homebuyers and job seekers at the expense of Ontario and British Columbia,” the statistics agency said. 

Toronto’s housing prices surged during the pandemic and also saw a rapid increase over the period the Statistics Canada data was collected. Currently, the benchmark price for a home in the city is $1.128 million.