These Canadian Cities Are Still Seeing Price Gains

🏆Canada’s Winning and Losing Housing Markets

• National home prices in Canada rose 0.3% year-over-year in Q2 2025 but fell 0.4% from Q1, indicating a mostly flat spring market

• Toronto and Vancouver saw year-over-year price drops of 3.0% and 2.6%

• Prices rose significantly in Edmonton (7.5%), Montreal (3.5%), Regina (3.5%), Halifax (3.4%) and Winnipeg (3.1%)

• Quebec City saw a 13.5% price increase due to low inventory

• Edmonton, Halifax, Quebec City, and Regina are expected to see 7%+ gains by end of year, while Toronto and Vancouver are projected at 2% and 1.5%

Why This Matters: Growth opportunities exist in cities with tight inventory and rising demand like Quebec City, Edmonton, and Halifax. Slower national growth means returns will vary widely by region, and local fundamentals matter more than ever. _(source) 

🦅 Canadians Losing Interest in U.S. Homes

• Canadian interest in U.S. real estate dropped nearly 30% in May 2025, according to Redfin.

• Canadians were the top foreign buyers in 2024, accounting for 13% of all foreign U.S. real estate purchases, with a total expenditure of USD 5.9 billion.

• The decline began in February, coinciding with the escalation of U.S.-Canada trade tensions and the introduction of a new round of 25% tariffs.

• A weak Canadian dollar has further strained affordability for Canadians in the already high-priced U.S. market.

• Top cities with the most significant search declines: Houston (-55%), Philadelphia (-53%), Chicago (-47%), and Miami (-30%).

Why This Matters: Canadians have long been a significant source of foreign demand in U.S. real estate, particularly in snowbird hotspots such as Florida and Arizona. But political hostility, new tariffs, rising climate risks, and a weak loonie are shifting sentiment fast. A 30% drop in search traffic isn’t just optics — it’s a signal that the cross-border real estate bond is cracking.

😔 Another Brampton Real Estate Scammer Just Surfaced

• Real estate scams are becoming rampant in Brampton, with multiple cases surfacing involving fake rentals and fraudulent home sales

• We previously covered the story of Moiz Kunwar, who was charged with defrauding buyers through a fake pre-construction scheme

• Since that post, dozens more alleged victims have come forward claiming Kunwar took deposits for homes he had no legal right to sell

• Peel police have laid additional criminal charges and issued a public warning to avoid any transactions with Kunwar

Meanwhile….

• New complaints are emerging about a different alleged scam, also in Brampton, involving fake rental agreements

• Victims say they signed leases for basement units, transferred thousands of dollars, and never received keys

• Multiple online reviews and social posts accuse the agent and brokerage of taking money and ghosting tenants

🤑 From Condo to House? That'll Be $647K More

• Nationally, buying a house costs 52–55% more than buying a condo.

• Toronto’s price gap peaked at $851K in 2022, but has since narrowed to $647K still out of reach for many “move-up” buyers.

• Montreal’s gap is around $242K, but in Vancouver, it’s a jaw-dropping $1.2M+, 5× larger.

• Since 2005, the condo-house gap has consistently widened in absolute dollars, making it harder for middle-class Canadians to grow into larger homes.

• Overall, the cost to upgrade from a condo to a house has become more volatile, especially post-2020, driven by interest rates, inflation, and population trends.

Why This Matters: For many families, upgrading from a condo to a house is now financially out of reach, especially in cities like Vancouver and Toronto, where the price gap exceeds 100%. Add hidden costs like land transfer taxes, realtor fees, movers, and legal expenses, and the dream of “moving up” starts to vanish.

🤔 WTF of the Week: $1M Loss in Yorkville?!

Someone dropped $4.1M on a Yorkville penthouse, and now it’s back on the market for $3.12M — a nearly $1M haircut before the keys were even handed over. The listing doesn’t just show a price drop; it hints at something deeper: maybe the numbers never made sense to begin with. Was the original price just peak-market delusion, or are we finally seeing a dose of reality?

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