Canadian Housing Market Sputters to End Summer

The RPS-Wahi House Price Index slouched by 3% in August, as condo prices correct beyond Toronto and Vancouver and economic uncertainty stifles homebuying activity.

By Josh Sherman | 4 minute read

The RPS-Wahi House Price Index, created by Real Property Solutions and presented by Wahi, is a trusted indicator of Canadian home price trends.

Wahi, a leading Canadian real estate platform, and Real Property Solutions (RPS), the foremost Canadian provider of property valuation services, today released their price index for August 2026.

In August, the national RPS-Wahi House Price Index — which is based on the latest monthly actual home values in 1,000 towns and cities across the country — decreased by 3% on a year-over-year basis. The pace of depreciation is consistent with the past several months, although beneath the surface, there have been ongoing regional variations.

Notably, the condo correction has been spreading and sizable price drops have materialized this year outside of southern Ontario and B.C.’s Lower Mainland, including in Alberta. While a handful of more affordable major metro areas, including Quebec City and Saskatoon, are maintaining their statuses as growth markets overall, values in Canada’s largest urban centres continue to erode. All of this has been playing out as the recent flare up of trade tensions once again rattles homebuyer confidence in general. 

“Economic uncertainty helped stall the Canadian housing market’s recovery this summer, but not all markets are affected equally,” says RPS-Wahi Economist Ryan McLaughlin. “Some property types continue to prove more resilient than others as well,” he adds.

In August, multi-family housing was suffering the largest losses at the national level. For example, row/townhouse values dropped by 7%, with a similar decline registered for condos (-6%). Detached (-3%) and semi-detached home (-3%) values were closer to breaking even and, in some markets, were still increasing. 

One Less Market Depreciates in August 2026

Prices are now down in less than half of the 13 major metro areas that RPS-Wahi analyzes each month in addition to the Canada-wide index reading.

That’s thanks to a slight improvement in Calgary (0% change in values year-over-year versus a -1% change in July). The market has returned to equilibrium on the shoulders of firmer single-family home values and smaller declines on the multi-family side than in previous months.

Southern Ontario was the source of the steepest declines — Toronto (-7%) and Hamilton (-7%) — while B.C.’s prospects improved somewhat relative to earlier in the year: Victoria (-3%) and Vancouver (-3%).

Quebec City (+11%) remains the top growth market. It has been chronically undersupplied in recent years, and this continues to support higher home values. Despite eroding affordability, pricing has not become so detached from local incomes as to curb demand. Quebec City maintains a substantial growth margin over Montreal (+6%) and Regina (+6%). Worsening affordability in Montreal has trimmed some of the frothiness out of the market but not enough to flatten prices. Regina, on the other hand, is once again on the upswing. Like Quebec City, supply is limited, and it offers even better affordability prospects.

About the RPS-Wahi House Price Index (HPI)

The RPS-Wahi House Price Index is the most comprehensive source for house price data in Canada and includes the median house price dollar values and extensive additional data by property type from a national to the local level. For more information, the complete methodology is available.

Long-Term Price Trends

The RPS-Wahi House Price Index is based on the latest monthly actual home values in 1,000 towns and cities across the country.

The index shows how property values have changed over time, relative to a base period (Jan. 2005 = 100). An HPI value of 300 means property values have tripled (on a smoothed, adjusted basis) since 2005.

The HPI does not indicate the actual price of a property. It demonstrates how prices have moved relative to the base period. 

Market Momentum

A rising index indicates an upward price trend. A falling index suggests price softening or correction. Since the HPI smooths noise and filters out outliers, it gives a more stable, reliable picture of pricing trends than monthly medians.

The HPI is based on an up-to-six-month rolling average, so it does not reflect short-term volatility, such as one-off surges in prices from luxury sales. All figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.