Canadian Home Prices Sit 3% Below Last Year Even as Average Sale Price Edges Up 0.6%

Your competition arrived first

The new-listings jump is the detail most relevant to would-be sellers. CREA Chair Garry Bhaura said the increase in supply was "both broad based across all the largest markets and most apparent towards the end of the month," suggesting sellers wanted "an early start to the fall market, particularly given how late Labour Day was this year."

That timing matters. If you are planning a September or October listing, a wave of comparable homes may already be on the market ahead of yours, and buyers will have more options than they did in midsummer. In a balanced market with flat prices, that tends to put more weight on pricing, condition and presentation than on waiting for the market to lift your number.

Price from local comparables, not national headlines

A flat national index does not mean your listing price should be last year's figure, and it does not mean it should be 3% lower either. What a buyer will pay depends on recent sales of similar homes nearby. A comparative market analysis from a local professional, built on those sales, is the right starting point. The national data is useful context for how the market is behaving, not a pricing tool.

Borrowing limits are tied to your home's appraised value

If you are considering a refinance or a HELOC, the number that matters most is the value a lender accepts for your specific property. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada says a HELOC lets you borrow up to 65% of your home's value, that your maximum depends on that value and your equity, and that a lender may use a home appraisal to determine it.

The agency's broader comparison of home-equity products sets a home equity loan at up to 80% of appraised value, and a second mortgage at 80% of appraised value minus your mortgage balance. Each of those products can come with appraisal, title search, title insurance and legal fees.

Why a 3% gap in value can matter

Many owners still carry a mental estimate of their home's value from 2025, when prices were higher. If your property's value has followed the broad national trend, that estimate may now be too high, and any borrowing room calculated from it will be too.

Here is a simple illustration, not a valuation. Suppose you believed your home was worth $800,000 last year, and its actual value today is 3% lower, at $776,000.

These ceilings are before your existing mortgage balance and a lender's own qualification rules are applied, so your actual room may be smaller. The point is direction, not precision: a modest drop in value reduces the room available at every threshold.

For more on how softer values are playing out for existing owners, see our coverage of CMHC's outlook and the delayed equity recovery.

Assessments and equity estimates

The same logic applies if you are reviewing a municipal property assessment or tracking your net equity. The HPI is a sounder reference than the average for describing how comparable homes have moved, but neither replaces a local comparative market analysis, a lender appraisal or your assessment authority's own valuation. Use the national figures to understand the direction of the market, then rely on property-specific evidence for any number you plan to act on.

Regional markets are moving on different tracks

A national composite blends very different local conditions. CREA's August release did not break out regional results, but its July commentary showed how uneven the picture was. In CREA's July release, the association said markets on the Prairies, in Quebec and on the East Coast were cooling from sellers' markets toward balance, while B.C.'s Lower Mainland and Ontario's Greater Golden Horseshoe had moved from buyers' or borderline buyers' markets back into balanced territory. Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador were still borderline sellers' markets at the time.

Property type adds another layer. Condos, townhouses and detached homes in the same city can follow different paths, which is one reason averages swing so much when the mix of sales shifts. Earlier this year, for instance, Homeowner.ca reported on how Toronto prices fell to 2020 levels, a reminder that a single metro can diverge sharply from the national composite.

The October release and the questions it will answer

CREA's next statistics package is scheduled for Friday, October 16, 2026. It will show whether September's listings kept rising, whether sales absorbed the new supply, and whether the HPI stayed flat for another month.

For owners, three readings are worth watching: the month-over-month HPI, to see whether stability holds; the sales-to-new-listings ratio, to see whether the balance tilts further toward buyers; and months of inventory, which has now held steady for four months. Together, they describe the market your home sits in far better than any single average price.

Homeowner.ca also tracks alternative price measures, such as the repeat-sales approach in the Teranet index coverage, which offers another way to check the direction of values.