Time for your cheat sheet on this week’s top stories.
Canadian Real Estate
Canadian-Born Wealth Falls Behind Immigrants After Real Estate Bubble
Immigrants in Canada are outperforming Canadian-born households on wealth. A new Statistics Canada (StatCan) study divided the two groups into wealth quartiles and found virtually no gap in the upper half, with established immigrants—those in the country at least 10 years—holding a slight edge. In the bottom half, established immigrants held an even wider edge. The catch? Home equity represented a much larger share of wealth for the immigrant groups, making their progress much more fragile and closely tied to the housing hurdles currently stalling young adults.
Canada’s Housing “Downturn”: East Coast Prices Jump Up To $28k In A Month
The Canadian housing downturn may be one of the biggest home-price booms on record. The price of a typical home slipped 0.3% (-$1,900) to $665,600 in June, leaving it 20.9% (-$175,500) below its March 2022 peak. Break the data down by province, however, and most are setting fresh highs. Over in Atlantic Canada, PEI home prices surged 7.5% (+$28,833) in a single month. It was followed by equally impressive surges: Nova Scotia rising 5.2% (+$23,026), and Newfoundland increasing 2.3% (+$8,100). The “correction” is confined almost entirely to B.C. and Ontario.
Toronto New Home Prices Crash More Than 10% Over 30 Days
Toronto new home prices dropped abruptly, despite firmer sales. Altus Group data shows the price of a new single-family home plunged 10.7% (-$152.1k) in June alone, the sharpest single-month drop on record. Sales more than doubled last year’s volume (+130.4%), while new listings fell 15.1%. Still, it was the second-weakest June for sales in at least 18 years. Meanwhile, inventory has doubled from the 2020 record low, with the single-family segment tripling over that period.
Canadian Mortgage Debt Has Already Passed Its Cycle Peak
Mortgage credit is directly contradicting the narrative of a real estate recovery on the horizon. Household debt climbed to $3.27 trillion in May, accelerating to 4.4% annual growth. Mortgages still accounted for the vast majority at $2.4 trillion, but growth slowed to its weakest pace since 2024 at 4.3%. In other words, debt is accelerating but mortgages are slowing—households are borrowing consumer credit at a faster rate. Combined with higher delinquencies, this surging debt reveals mounting financial pressures that likely explain the slowing mortgage growth.
Canadian Inflation Slows, Renters and Homeowners See Uneven Relief
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowed to 2.8% in June, down 0.1 percentage point from May and marking its first deceleration since April 2025. Whether that feels right may depend on whether you rent or own. Rent inflation eased to 3.5% y/y—the lowest rate since January 2022, but still one of the largest contributors to CPI. Homeownership costs, meanwhile, slowed to just 0.2% y/y, helping drag the headline lower. We break down the homeownership model to reveal how CPI modelling actually downplays both segments.
