National House Price Index Declines for First Time Since 2023

Canadian home prices took a tumble on a year-over-year basis this November as a fourth major housing market entered negative territory.

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 monthly house price index for November 2025.

In November, 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 — registered a year-over-year decline after several consecutive months of flat prices.

The index last month was down 1% relative to November 2024, marking the first time since mid-2023 that national home prices declined on an annual basis. 

The overall decline comes as the Canadian housing market continues to see pricing softness across all property types. However, declines in condo prices, down 6% year-on-year, once again outpaced what was observed in the single-family segment by a large margin. Prices were unchanged from a year ago for detached homes, down 1% for row/townhouses, and 2% for semi-detached homes.

“While we’ve seen increased downward pressure on single-family home prices nationally, across most of Canada’s largest urban centres, pricing for these housing types remains up or roughly flat relative to last year,” says RPS-Wahi Economist Ryan McLaughlin.

Canada’s largest markets account for the lion’s share of housing activity, weighing on the national index readings, he notes.  

Victoria Joins Hamilton, Toronto, and Vancouver in Price Declines  

This November, Victoria became the fourth market this year to see annual price declines among the 13 major metro areas that were analyzed in addition to the national RPS-Wahi House Price Index. However, the 1% dip in year-over-year prices in Victoria wasn’t as pronounced as the sustained declines observed in Hamilton, Toronto, and Vancouver for much of the year.

It’s also too soon to tell whether this trend continues through to 2026, notes McLaughlin. “I’d caution against reading too much into one month of declining prices,” he explains.

Looking at year-to-date market performance, Victoria’s market is displaying signs of sideways momentum rather than substantial weakening. “We’re going to land pretty close to the overall annual sales counts that we’ve seen over the last two or three years,” says Dirk VanderWal, director and committee chair of the Victoria Real Estate Board. “We’re on a two-and-a-half-year run of pretty flat pricing.”

VanderWal points out that Victoria real estate ended on a high note in the final months of 2024, so year-over-year comparisons make the market appear cooler than it is. 

That said, uncertainty from ongoing trade tensions with the U.S. and the current mortgage market have kept somewhat of a lid on demand. “Interest rates have been, by historical standards, not bad over the past year, but when you’ve got people who still have that fresh memory of being able to borrow money at sub-2% on a five-year fixed, 4 or 5% doesn’t look that attractive,” says VanderWal.

In general, Victoria tends to display less volatility than many other markets, a characteristic he chalks up at least partly to geographic constraints and the local workforce. Being an island, only so much supply can be added, and as the capital of B.C., Victoria retains long-term government jobs.

“We’ve got pretty stable industries that underpin the economy here,” he says, also noting workforces in hospitality and at several of the island’s post-secondary institutions.

Outside of Victoria’s November dip, regional price trends were generally consistent with previous months, with big cities in Quebec and several markets in the Prairies (excluding Calgary) leading in terms of price appreciation.

In particular, Quebec City and Winnipeg continue to display the strongest gains. Better affordability relative to other metro areas and stronger economic and demographic fundamentals have propped up home prices in these cities, as well as Regina, say the market-watchers Wahi consulted in recent months. To a lesser extent, this has also been the case in Atlantic Canada.  

About the RPS-Wahi House Price Index (HPI)

The RPS-Wahi Home 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.