Canadian policymakers have apparently offset any downward pressure from changing fundamentals. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data shows the price of a typical home climbed in all but one province in April. Despite a major correction in the national numbers, the provincial Home Price Indexes (HPI) reveal that only two provinces have seen a major correction. The rest are either near record highs or just off them, despite the sharp shift in fundamentals.
All But One Canadian Province Saw Home Prices Rise Last Month
Canadian real estate prices, 1-month change.
Source: CREA; Better Dwelling.
The national composite price climbed 0.3% (-$2.0k) to $666.4k in April, moving higher for a third straight month. This isn’t surprising since only one provincial HPI fell last month. That province was New Brunswick, where prices slipped 1.5% (-$5.0k).
The remaining eight provincial HPIs moved higher, led by Newfoundland (+1.6%), Alberta (+0.9%), and Nova Scotia (+0.8%).
Canada Has Only Seen Real Estate Prices Correct In Two Provinces
Canadian real estate prices: Change from record high to April 2026, in percent.
Source: CREA; Better Dwelling.
The price of a typical home is 20.8% (-$174.9k) lower than the record set in March 2022. It’s a substantial correction following one of the frothiest markets in history, but most Canadians are unlikely to have noticed a correction. The entire decline is almost entirely due to a correction in two of the country’s most expensive provinces.
The vast majority of provinces have barely budged, with 4 of the 9 HPIs now sitting at record highs—including Nova Scotia, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland. PEI might as well be considered a record at just 0.1% below its all-time high. Another two are just a few points off record highs: Alberta (-2.6%) and New Brunswick (-3.5%). The most extreme correction in 7 out of 9 provinces is a 3.5% drop. That would require an absurd correction in the remaining two provinces to print a 20.8% national decline, right?
That’s exactly what happened. The price of a typical home in BC is 14.9% below its 2022 peak. That leaves just one province with enough downward pressure that brings the whole index lower—Ontario, where a typical home is still 25.3% lower than its 2022 peak.
Virtually the whole narrative around a national correction is entirely based on just two provinces. This is a little odd, since this undermines the progress claimed by policymakers on advancing housing affordability. Home prices were climbing due to rapid population growth and a near-zero interest policy. Now that neither of those are true, these provinces still haven’t seen prices pull back. For now, at least.
Canadian real estate prices at all time highs in 8 provinces.
Government: Pumps billions into mortgage liquidity, bails out developers, buys properties for private companies to prop up demand, subsidizing builds, openly allowing banks to commit valuation fraud.
Imagine what they do when prices actually fall.
But here’s the thing. There’s a massive gap between the amount of people that can afford a home and the number of boomers who need them to buy homes.
They can prop it up temporarily, but it’s unclear how this works going forward. Canada’s not the first country to undergo this, most of Europe is circling the drain.
There’s like 5 sales in all of Atlantic Canada. How is that still considered a real situation?
Finally someone who gets it. If only two houses sold for an entire year, but sold for 1.5 Million each, in theory it’s considered “record high prices”. If sales are down 95% yet the 5% still selling are high-end homes, it still means that the market is a mess. The real stat would be to compare YoY Total value of homes sold. Then we’d see a cliff, but that’s the type of data that CREA will never share.
I said i ain’t buying no million dollar home! Ad i mean it!
These are nominal prices. Factor inflation in, and there goes your headline. I’m still surprised they are up at all, though.