Canada home prices fall 3.4% in September 2026 as sales drop 2.3%
Canadian home prices were 3.4% below a year earlier in September while sales fell faster still, so entry is cheaper but an exit may take longer.
The facts
- Canada's MLS Home Price Index stood at -3.4% against September 2025 and 0.4% below August, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported on 16 October.
- Home sales fell 2.3% from August, and on an actual, non-seasonally-adjusted basis they were -7.7% against September 2025.
- The national average sale price was CAD 666,538, -1.6% on a year earlier.
- New listings fell 1.8% on the month, yet slightly more than 200,000 properties were on the market at the end of September, 1.8% up on a year earlier.
- The sales-to-new-listings ratio was 48.8%, against 49.1% in August and a long-term average of 54.7%.
- Months of inventory stood at 4.9, and CREA places a buyers' market above 6.4 months.
What it means for your money
- Entry prices are 3.4% below a year ago and there is more choice. The same drift trims what a resale would fetch.
- Glopra's Canada snapshot of 15 October puts a city-centre apartment at $4,585 per square metre, and it is that level the annual decline is working on.
- Sales are falling faster than prices, -7.7% against -3.4%, so the sharper risk is liquidity: an exit may take longer rather than simply pay less.
What to watch
- CREA cut its 2026 sales forecast the same morning to 444,530 homes, a 5.2% decline on 2025, sparing only Newfoundland and Labrador.
- The next release is 17 November 2026, and the ratio still sits inside CREA's balanced range of roughly 45% to 65%.
Sources: Canadian Real Estate Association, Canadian Home Sales Pull Back in September, Ottawa 16 October 2026 https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/16/3382337/0/en/canadian-home-sales-pull-back-in-september.html; Canadian Real Estate Association, CREA Revises Resale Housing Market Forecast, Ottawa 16 October 2026 https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/16/3382342/0/en/crea-revises-resale-housing-market-forecast.html