Half a million dollars might not get you very far in the Toronto or Vancouver housing markets – but in other parts of the country, it will let you snap up just about any property you want.

Real estate expert Karyn Filiatrault joined CTV’s Your Morning Wednesday, to look at active listings, in the $500,000 range, located in nine communities across the country.

In Toronto and Vancouver, that price point equates to small one-bedroom – or even no-bedroom – condos in desirable locations.

Anyone looking for more space might want to pay attention to what Filiatrault found in cities such as Calgary, Ottawa and especially Montreal, where a drool-worthy 1,500-square-foot industrial loft has an asking price of $515,000.

Moving outside Canada’s large cities provides even more bang for the real estate buck, as demonstrated by an oceanfront estate in Prince Edward Island and a log home on a three-acre property in Smithers, B.C.