When it comes to the most affordable cities in Canada to buy a house, you can't go wrong with the Prairie provinces.

Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba offer some of the cheapest housing in Canada compared to five years ago, according to a recent study from Zoocasa.

Regina is the cheapest place to purchase an apartment compared to five years ago; residents will only have to fork out about $174,800 for an apartment in August 2020, a decline of 21 per cent compared to 2015.

Edmonton comes in second (decline of 17 per cent) and St. John's steals third place (decline of 16 per cent).

When it comes to single-family housing, Calgary is the cheapest place to purchase a home compared to five years ago; residents will pay about $466,000 in August 2020, with prices declining by six per cent since 2015.

St John's comes in second (decline of six per cent) and Edmonton takes third place (decline of five per cent).

Zoocasa shows how apartment and single-family house prices have changed across Canada over the past five years

Unsurprisingly, house prices have risen most in Ontario and B.C.; in Fraser Valley, the cost of an apartment more than doubled in the last five years, growing by 104 per cent.

Toronto, Vancouver, the Niagara Region, Guelph, and the Hamilton-Burlington area also experiencing rising prices.

In fact, Toronto residents will have to shell out almost double the money for an apartment or single-family house compared to Calgary residents.

Despite the surge in demand, experts forecast that home prices in Canada are likely to dip in the coming months due to high unemployment rates and slower in-bound migration.

If you're a "buy-in-a-bust" kind of shopper, now's the time to have your real estate agent on speed dial.