Condo Benchmarks Fell 6.7 Per Cent in Toronto and 8.3 in Calgary While Detached Barely Moved

The short answer from both sources is supply.

In the Toronto area, total active listings were 9.3 per cent lower than a year ago in September, partly because fewer sellers entered the market. That sounds like tightening. Yet RBC notes that an abundance of condo apartments remains, accounting for nearly a third of all listings, and says this sustains heavier downward pressure on condo prices. Overall inventory fell. Its composition did not improve for condo sellers.

Calgary's board is more specific about the cause. Chief Economist Ann-Marie Lurie said in the Calgary Real Estate Board's September statistics release that "the construction boom over the past three years was mostly driven by gains in higher-density sectors, significantly increasing the supply of apartment and row-style homes." The board adds that demand for those homes is being spread across more alternatives in the rental and new home markets.

The supply figures bear that out:

• Apartments: 343 sales against 717 new listings, with months of supply holding just above five months and a benchmark of $291,400.
• Detached: 896 sales, more than four per cent above last year, with just over three months of supply.
• Row homes: a benchmark of $412,400, down nearly six per cent, with supply rising above four months.

Even the detached figure is not uniform. The board says the one per cent detached decline came mostly from steep pullbacks in the oversupplied North East district, while prices in the City Centre and West districts were higher than last year. A housing-type benchmark is closer to the truth than a citywide one. A district-level benchmark is closer still.

New construction is part of the Toronto story as well, as covered in Homeowner.ca's report on housing starts and the slowing GTA condo pipeline.

Most owners never need a precise value for their home. A few moments are different, and in each of them the housing-type figure is a more useful starting point than the city headline.

Borrowing against the home

Home equity is the appraised value of a home minus what is owed against it, according to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. The agency says total borrowing secured against a home can usually reach up to 80 per cent of its value, that a home equity line of credit may allow up to 65 per cent, and that an appraisal may be needed to establish the value.

The arithmetic is mechanical. The agency's own example uses a $250,000 home: 80 per cent is $200,000, and a $150,000 mortgage leaves $50,000 of room. If the appraised value comes in lower, the room shrinks even though the mortgage balance has not changed.

Two cautions apply. The agency says an appraisal "may" be needed, which is not the same as saying every renewal triggers one. And a lender relies on its own valuation of the property, not on a board's index. The benchmark tells an owner which direction their segment has moved before that conversation, and nothing more.

Insurance coverage

Here the distinction runs the other way. The amount a home is insured for should correspond to the cost of rebuilding it if it were destroyed, and the Insurance Bureau of Canada notes that replacement value may differ from both market value and municipal assessment value. A weaker resale market is therefore not a reason to lower coverage. Rebuilding costs follow construction, not listings.

Condo owners have a further layer. The bureau explains that the corporation's policy generally covers the building and common property, while a unit owner's policy covers contents, improvements and liability, and may include loss-assessment coverage up to a stated limit. None of that is tied to the unit's resale benchmark.

Preparing to list

For an owner thinking of selling, the housing-type figures describe the competition. A Toronto condo seller is entering the segment that holds nearly a third of the market's listings. A Calgary apartment seller faces just above five months of supply. A Calgary detached seller faces just over three. Those are different negotiating positions inside the same city.

The same split has appeared on the West Coast, where Homeowner.ca reported on Vancouver detached sales rising while condos weakened.

RBC's report covers two other large markets, and both reinforce that conditions are local.

In the Vancouver area, resales fell nearly eight per cent from August on a seasonally adjusted basis and the composite index was down 5.5 per cent from a year ago. Active listings remain near a decade high. RBC expects further depreciation there through the rest of 2026 and possibly into 2027. That forecast is specific to Vancouver. The report does not extend it to Toronto or Calgary condos.

Montreal looks different again. Inventory is up 20 per cent from a year ago on what RBC calls the strongest influx of sellers in six years, yet median condo prices were flat and single-family prices rose 0.4 per cent. More supply there has slowed appreciation instead of producing declines. Note the measure: Montreal's figures are medians, so they are not directly comparable with the index figures for the other three cities.

Nationally, the bank expects improving affordability and a resilient economy to "progressively unlock pent-up demand and support a mild recovery," with a road ahead that is "bumpy and uneven across markets."

The September data supports one practical habit: look up the figure for your housing type, in your area, and treat it as context. Before drawing a conclusion from it, check the following.

• Housing type. Confirm the figure is for condo apartments, row homes, semi-detached or detached, not the composite.
• Geography. RBC's Toronto figures cover the Toronto area as a whole, and Calgary's detached result varied sharply by district. Use the smallest area your board publishes.
• The measure. A benchmark, an average and a median answer different questions. Compare like with like.
• The period. Year-over-year and month-over-month changes are not interchangeable, and several of RBC's September resale points are flagged as estimates.
• Measured or forecast. Price changes are measured. Statements about where prices go next are the bank's judgment.
• The purpose. A lender's limit depends on its own valuation. An insurance limit depends on rebuilding cost. Neither is set by the index.

The city headline still has a use. It describes the market as a whole. It no longer describes what happened to any one kind of home in it.