The number of homes in communities across the province valued at less than half a million dollars is in decline.

Data from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation shows the decline to have occurred over the past decade.

Looking at the province as a whole, numbers have dropped from 74 per cent to 19 per cent, which only reinforces the housing crunch many are facing.

The agency says this has led to limited options, with first-time buyers having to look to northern Ontario to find homes under half a million.

Only numbers from one Northwestern Ontario community, Thunder Bay, were included in the data set which shows in 2013 a little over 97 per cent of properties were valued under $500K, dropping to just under 83 per cent last year.

Meanwhile, properties with values of $500,000 to $1.5 million in the city increased from 2.4 per cent to 17.2 per cent during the same period.

As of December 2023, the median home value in the province was $765,000, jumping to $1.03 million in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

During the 10-year period, the data shows detached, semi-detached and townhome prices skyrocketing at unprecedented rates, with the median value for a detached home being nearly $378,000 in 2013, jumping by almost 128 per cent to over $862,000 today.