Year one and two are the hardest, since legal fees of $800 to $1,500 land upfront and a new mortgage's early payments are mostly interest rather than principal, so very little of the home is actually paid down yet.
By year three, enough principal has usually been repaid and enough time has passed for the benchmark's 2.8 percent annual growth to start meaningfully outweighing those early costs, which is why year three to five is the range most Saskatoon buyers land in rather than a single fixed year.
A shorter stay pushes the break-even further out of reach; a longer stay pulls it forward, so your own plans matter more than the citywide average. Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.