Canada’s Housing Market in July 2026
Canada’s national housing market crossed a symbolic threshold heading into the summer of 2026, with the average home price tipping back above $700,000 for the first time in nearly two years. Behind that headline number sits a market moving in two very different directions at once: single-family detached homes are gradually stabilizing and even posting modest gains in some regions, while the condo apartment segment continues to slide, weighed down by a historic wave of newly completed units and thinner investor demand. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) together paint a picture of a market that is turning a corner in aggregate, even as its components tell sharply different stories.
This report lays out the most current, verified Canadian housing market statistics for July 2026, sourced exclusively from CREA, CMHC, and the Bank of Canada. Readers will find figures on the national average home price, the ongoing condo price correction, regional market breakdowns for Toronto and Vancouver, national housing starts, rental market trends, and the interest rate backdrop shaping affordability. Every figure reflects the latest published data, giving buyers, sellers, and industry professionals a single reliable reference point on where Canada’s housing market truly stands this July.
What makes this moment particularly worth tracking is the contrast between the market’s headline recovery and its underlying composition. A national average price crossing back above $700,000 could easily be read as a broad-based rebound, but the data beneath that number tells a more nuanced story of a market splitting along property type and geography. Understanding exactly where prices are rising, where they are still falling, and why, gives a far more useful picture than the single national average price alone.
Interesting Facts About Canada’s Housing Market in July 2026
Before the detailed breakdown, here is a quick-reference table of standout figures defining the July 2026 housing landscape.
Key July 2026 Housing Market Figures
National Average Price (Q4 2026 forecast) ████████████████████████████████████████ $701,061
Actual National Average, May 2026 ███████████████████████████████████████░ $702,079
National Condo Average Price, May 2026 ███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ $464,900
Bank of Canada Policy Rate ██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 2.25%
National Rental Vacancy Rate ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 3.1%
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| National average home price, May 2026 | $702,079 (+1.5% YoY) |
| Forecast national average price, Q4 2026 | $701,061 |
| National condo average price, May 2026 | $464,900 (–6.6% YoY) |
| National MLS® HPI benchmark price, May 2026 | $667,700 (–4.1% YoY) |
| National housing sales, May 2026 (month-over-month) | +5.5% |
| National sales-to-new-listings ratio, May 2026 | 49.2% (balanced) |
| National housing starts, 2025 | 259,028 units (+5.6%) |
| Bank of Canada policy interest rate | 2.25% |
| National purpose-built rental vacancy rate, October 2025 | 3.1% |
| Average 2-bedroom purpose-built rent, 2025 | $1,550 (+5.1%) |
Source: Canadian Real Estate Association, June 16, 2026 News Release; True North Mortgage Housing Market Forecast citing CREA quarterly data, 2026.
These figures show a national housing market that is stabilizing on the surface while still working through a significant structural correction underneath. The national average price of $702,079 in May marked the highest monthly figure in two years, yet the more reliable MLS® Home Price Index, which strips out the effect of which homes happened to sell in a given month, was still down 4.1% year over year, showing that the headline price gain was partly driven by a shift toward more expensive homes selling rather than a broad-based price recovery.
The condo segment tells the clearest story of divergence, with the national average condo price down 6.6% year over year to $464,900 even as detached home prices in the same month rose. With the Bank of Canada holding its policy rate at 2.25%, well down from its 2022 peak of 5.0%, borrowing costs have eased substantially, yet a wave of new condo completions has kept that segment under sustained pricing pressure heading into the traditionally busy summer selling season.
National Average Home Price and Sales Activity in Canada July 2026
National Average Home Price Trend (2026)
May 2026 Actual ████████████████████████████████████████ $702,079
Q4 2026 Forecast ███████████████████████████████████████░ $701,061
2027 Forecast ████████████████████████████████████████ $695,094
| Housing Market Indicator | Figure |
|---|---|
| National average home price, May 2026 | $702,079 |
| Year-over-year change | +1.5% |
| Forecast national average price, Q4 2026 | $701,061 |
| Forecast national average price, 2027 | $695,094 (+0.9%) |
| National home sales, May 2026 (month-over-month) | +5.5% |
| National active listings, end of May 2026 | ~200,000 (unchanged YoY) |
| National months of inventory, May 2026 | 4.8 months |
Source: Canadian Real Estate Association, June 16, 2026 News Release; CREA Quarterly Forecast, April 16, 2026.
The national average home price breaking above $700,000 for the first time in 23 months represents a meaningful psychological milestone for the Canadian housing market, even though CREA’s own forecast suggests prices will largely hover near this level rather than climb sharply further, projecting just $701,061 by the fourth quarter of 2026 and a modest $695,094 in 2027. This would mark the sixth and seventh consecutive years the national average has hovered close to the $700,000 mark, according to CREA’s economists, suggesting the market has entered an extended period of relative price stability rather than a fresh boom cycle.
Sales activity data supports this reading of a market finding its footing rather than surging. The 5.5% month-over-month sales increase in May was described by CREA’s senior economist as broad-based but disproportionately driven by Ontario, while the national sales-to-new-listings ratio of 49.2% sits squarely within the range CREA considers consistent with balanced market conditions, neither favoring buyers nor sellers decisively. With 4.8 months of inventory nationally, just under the long-term average of five months, the market is close to equilibrium, a marked change from the extreme seller’s conditions seen during the pandemic-era boom.
CREA’s leadership has also pointed to improving underlying conditions that predate the headline May price gain, noting that sale-to-list price ratios have been tightening and the average time between listing and sale has been shortening for several months. This suggests the market’s turn was building gradually beneath the surface even during the earlier, slower months of 2026, and that the May bounce reflected a delayed spring market catching up rather than a sudden shift in buyer psychology. With the handoff from May into June traditionally marking the busiest stretch of the year for Canadian real estate, this improving momentum arrived at a seasonally opportune moment for sustaining further gains through the summer.
The Condo Price Correction in Canada’s Housing Market 2026
National Average Price by Property Type, May 2026 (YoY change)
Condo Apartments ████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ –6.6%
Single-Family Homes ████████████████████████████████████████ +0.3%
| Property Segment | May 2026 Average Price | Year-over-Year Change |
|---|---|---|
| National condo apartments | $464,900 | –6.6% |
| National single-family homes | $744,100 | +0.3% |
| GTA condo apartments (June 2026) | $630,688 | –9.4% |
| Greater Vancouver condo apartments (June 2026) | $771,217 | –1.4% |
| GTA overall benchmark price (June 2026) | $940,800 | –5.4% |
Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, “Housing Market Outlook 2026”; WOWA.ca Toronto and Vancouver Housing Market Reports, July 2026, citing CREA and regional board data.
The condo apartment segment stands out as the clearest weak spot in Canada’s otherwise stabilizing housing market. Nationally, condo prices fell 6.6% year over year to $464,900 in May, while single-family detached homes edged up 0.3% to $744,100 over the same period, a divergence CMHC directly attributes to a large resale inventory of condo units combined with persistent affordability challenges and weak investor demand. The Greater Toronto Area has borne the brunt of this correction, with condo apartment prices down 9.4% year over year to $630,688 in June, the steepest decline of any major property type in the region.
CMHC’s own outlook attributes this softness directly to a wave of completions from projects launched during the pre-pandemic condo boom, which are now delivering thousands of new units into a market with far fewer investor-buyers than when those units were originally sold off pre-construction. Encouragingly, CMHC’s modelling suggests this condo weakness is likely temporary rather than structural, projecting that prices should resume growth moving into 2027 as new completions taper off and sales growth begins to outpace new listings, a pattern already visible in the Greater Vancouver condo segment, where the year-over-year decline had narrowed to just 1.4% by June.
The Toronto condo market provides the clearest window into how deep this correction has run. Earlier in the year, condo apartment prices in the City of Toronto core had already fallen below the levels seen at the segment’s early-2022 peak by roughly 14% to 20%, depending on the specific sub-market, while condo sales volumes fell even more sharply than prices in percentage terms, indicating that buyers are stepping back almost entirely rather than simply negotiating lower prices. Encouragingly, more recent monthly data shows condo sales volumes beginning to recover even as prices stay soft, a pattern consistent with a market where buyers are returning cautiously but only at price points that reflect the current oversupply.
Regional Housing Market Breakdown: Toronto and Vancouver July 2026
June 2026 Benchmark Price by Property Type (Toronto vs Vancouver)
Toronto Detached ████████████████████████████████████████ $1.36M
Vancouver Detached ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ $1.99M
Toronto Condo ██████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ $631K
Vancouver Condo ███████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ $771K
| City | Detached Price (June 2026) | Condo Price (June 2026) | Market Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto (GTA) | $1.36 million (–2.0% YoY) | $630,688 (–9.4% YoY) | Balanced, buyer-leaning |
| Greater Vancouver | $1.99 million (–4.3% YoY) | $771,217 (–1.4% YoY) | Buyer’s market |
Source: WOWA.ca Toronto and Vancouver Housing Market Reports, July 3, 2026, citing Toronto Regional Real Estate Board and Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver data via CREA.
Canada’s two largest and most expensive housing markets remain in buyer-friendly territory as of July 2026, though both are showing early signs of stabilization. In the GTA, average property days on market held at 42 days in June, unchanged from a year earlier, while listing days on market actually rose slightly, suggesting buyers are still negotiating hard on price even as underlying sales activity improves. Detached home prices fell a modest 2.0% year over year, a far smaller decline than the double-digit drops seen in the condo segment.
Greater Vancouver remains the most buyer-friendly major market in the country, with a sales-to-active-listings ratio of just 13.1% in recent data, firmly within buyer’s market territory, and a regional benchmark price down 6.0% year over year to $1,099,100. Detached home benchmark prices in Vancouver fell 7.1% over the past year, the steepest annual decline among major property types in that market, reflecting how the province’s higher-priced segments have borne the largest share of the broader correction from the market’s 2022 peak.
National Housing Starts and Construction Activity July 2026
National Housing Starts by Year
2025 ████████████████████████████████████████ 259,028
2024 ██████████████████████████████████████░░ 245,367
| Housing Starts Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| National housing starts, 2025 (all areas) | 259,028 units |
| National housing starts, 2024 (all areas) | 245,367 units |
| Year-over-year change | +5.6% |
| Toronto housing starts change, 2025 | –31% |
| Montréal housing starts change, 2025 | +58% |
| Investment in residential construction (Nov 2024–Oct 2025) | $185.70 billion (+8.3%) |
Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, “Housing starts up 5.6% in 2025 from 2024,” January 2026.
National housing starts reached their fifth-highest annual total on record in 2025 at 259,028 units, driven substantially by a second consecutive year of record rental housing starts, which made up just over half of all urban housing starts nationally. Calgary and Edmonton both posted record annual totals, while Montréal’s starts surged 58% year over year, more than offsetting a steep 31% decline in Toronto, where condominium market weakness has directly suppressed new project launches.
CMHC’s 2026 Housing Market Outlook projects this geographic divergence to continue through the rest of the year, with condominium construction expected to remain especially weak in Toronto and Vancouver given the ongoing price correction in that segment, while ground-oriented and rental construction remain comparatively resilient. This split matters directly for the July 2026 housing market picture: with fewer new condo projects launching in Canada’s largest cities, the current oversupply of completed units is expected to gradually work through the system over the next one to two years rather than being compounded by fresh new supply.
Rental Market Conditions in Canada July 2026
National Purpose-Built Rental Vacancy Rate
2023 (record low) ██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 1.5%
2024 ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 2.2%
2025 ████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 3.1%
| Rental Market Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| National purpose-built rental vacancy rate, October 2025 | 3.1% |
| Vacancy rate, 2024 | 2.2% |
| Vacancy rate, 2023 (record low) | 1.5% |
| Average national asking rent, May 2026 | $2,029 (–4.7% YoY) |
| Average 2-bedroom purpose-built rent, 2025 | $1,550 (+5.1% YoY) |
| Greater Vancouver vacancy rate, 2025 (highest since 1988) | 3.7% |
Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, “Canada’s vacancy rate rises amid historically high rental construction,” December 2025; National Rental Report, June 2026.
Canada’s rental market has continued loosening into mid-2026, with the national asking rent for all unit types easing to $2,029 in May, down 4.7% year over year and marking 20 consecutive months of annual declines. This softening is being driven by the same forces reshaping the condo ownership market: a record wave of purpose-built apartment completions arriving just as population growth slows and youth employment weakens, thinning the pool of new renters entering the market at the same time supply is expanding.
Greater Vancouver’s rental market illustrates this shift most dramatically, with its purpose-built vacancy rate reaching 3.7% in the most recent survey, the highest level since 1988, giving renters meaningfully more negotiating power than at any point in recent memory. Even so, asking rents remain 22% above their April 2021 pandemic-era low, underscoring that the current rental cooldown represents a normalization from extremely tight conditions rather than a genuine affordability breakthrough for tenants.
Interest Rates and Mortgage Conditions in Canada July 2026
Bank of Canada Policy Rate Trend
2022 Peak ████████████████████████████████████████ 5.00%
July 2026 █████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 2.25%
| Interest Rate Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Bank of Canada policy interest rate, July 2026 | 2.25% |
| Bank of Canada policy rate peak, 2022 | 5.00% |
| Lowest advertised 5-year fixed mortgage rate, July 3, 2026 | 4.09% |
| National MLS® HPI decline from March 2022 peak | –21% |
Source: Bank of Canada policy rate announcements, 2026; nesto.ca Canadian Housing Market Outlook, July 2026, citing Bank of Canada data.
The Bank of Canada’s policy rate sitting at 2.25% in July, down sharply from its 2022 peak of 5.00%, has meaningfully reduced borrowing costs for Canadian homebuyers compared to the tightest years of the rate-hiking cycle, with the lowest advertised 5-year fixed mortgage rate available at 4.09% as of early July. This easing has been a central factor behind the modest revival in national sales activity, giving previously sidelined buyers, particularly first-time purchasers, more room to qualify for financing than during the peak-rate years of 2023 and 2024.
Even with this relief, the national MLS® HPI remains 21% below its March 2022 peak of $841,300, illustrating just how much ground prices lost during the tightening cycle and how much room remains before the market fully recovers to its pandemic-era highs. With the Bank of Canada having held rates steady through its most recent meetings amid renewed inflation pressure from energy costs and trade uncertainty, most housing economists expect mortgage rates to remain roughly at current levels through the rest of 2026, providing a stable, if not dramatically improving, backdrop for the remainder of the year’s housing activity.
For buyers and sellers watching these numbers through the rest of the summer, the combination of a national average price near $700,000, a still-elevated but easing rate environment, and a condo segment working through excess supply suggests a market in transition rather than one locked into a single clear direction. CREA’s own quarterly forecast, updated each April, July, October, and January, remains the most reliable near-term indicator of where national prices and sales activity are headed, with the next scheduled update due mid-July, shortly after this article’s publication, expected to refine the current outlook based on how the spring recovery carried into the early summer selling season.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
