While Ontario´s capital city was the most popular with buyers searching for real estate, though, the province only generated the third highest number of enquiries. Nova Scotia dominated buying activity, responsible for a staggering 62.49 per cent of enquiries. One in five (18.02 per cent) enquiries were for property in Quebec, driven largely by interest in Montreal. Ontario accounted for just 9.48 per cent of enquiries, ahead of British Columbia (6.43 per cent), most of which were targeted at Vancouver.

Nonetheless, buyers were clearly interested in Ontario´s property market: the province accounted for three of the 10 most searched-for destinations (Toronto, Ottawa and London), the same number as Quebec (Quebec, Montreal, Ile des Soeurs), while British Columbia and Alberta accounted for two apiece. Nova Scotia, on the other hand, had no cities in the top 10. Its largest city, Halifax, accounted for just 0.7 per cent of searches, enough to make it the 13th most popular place.

The At a Glance infographic also analyses Google behaviour over the past year. TheMoveChannel.com´s research found that “property in Canada” were the most commonly used keywords, closely followed “homes for sale in Canada”, a rare example of searches for a property type coming ahead of general terms for the entire country. Apartments and hotels appeared in almost no searches at all.

TheMoveChannel.com Editor Ivan Radford comments:

“Toronto is the largest city in Canada. Just look at that map and it´s no surprise that the province of Ontario is such a bright spot – Toronto is regularly ranked in the world´s most liveable cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit, along with Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary. According to Statistics Canada, just over 20 per cent of Canada´s population comes from overseas; expats are clearly keen on Canada and with Toronto´s renowned high quality of life, they head straight to the Ontario capital.

“Why, then, is Nova Scotia the province with the highest enquiries? Ontario has the highest number of properties for sale on the site (more than 5,000), followed by Nova Scotia´s 1,500 property listings: it is not a lack of homes that drives house hunters to another area. A closer look reveals that Nova Scotia´s real estate is more affordable: an average four-bed home costs approximately £302,000 in the province, compared to £451,000 in Ontario. With such a significant price difference, buyers are ultimately opting for Nova Scotia´s Atlantic coast rather than Ontario´s inland real estate. Expat appeal is one thing: money is another.”