Canada's condo correction is a price story, not a liquidity story (2026 data)
Canadian condo prices are down 12.0% over the past twelve months and 14.6% below their November 2025 peak, according to the Princeps price index, while house prices are up 2.3% over the same year. That gap is the real condo story of 2026. But the numbers underneath it complicate the wreckage narrative that dominated August: in Vancouver, condos are currently more liquid than houses on every measure we track, and in Quebec, condo prices just set an all-time high.
The condo correction is real. It is a price correction, though: not, so far, a seizure of the market. Those are different diseases with different prognoses, and the distinction matters for anyone deciding whether to sell, hold, or buy.
Key takeaways, as of August 31, 2026:
- The Princeps national condo price index is down 12.0% year over year; the national house index is up 2.3%.
- Quebec is the outlier: its condo index reached a record high in August 2026, up 12.1% year over year.
- In Vancouver, condos are outselling houses: fewer median days on market (62 vs 71), less inventory relative to sales pace, and fewer listings withdrawn without a sale.
- In every market we measured, sellers are cutting asking prices, but by small amounts (typically 3–5%), and condos are cut only slightly more often than houses.
Condo prices are falling hard nationally, but not everywhere
The national picture is stark. Canadian condo prices peaked in November 2025 and have given back 14.6% since, with the decline running at 12.0% year over year as of August 2026. Houses barely registered the same period: down 2.4% from their May 2026 peak, and still up 2.3% on the year.
Quebec breaks the pattern completely. The Princeps condo index for Quebec set its series high in August 2026, up 12.1% year over year, with Quebec houses up 3.9%. While the GTA new-condo market posts 35-year-low sales and RBC Economics counts over 1,700 cancelled or delayed condo project units this year, Quebec condos are appreciating faster than any other segment in the country. CREA's July data points the same direction: national prices down 3.3% year over year with Ontario and BC weakest, while Quebec and Atlantic Canada sit above last year's prices. There is no single Canadian condo market.
Vancouver: the market everyone calls broken is clearing faster than its houses
Vancouver has the grimmest headlines, from CMHC's July housing starts (down 42% year over year in Metro Vancouver) on down. It is also the one major market where sale outcomes are visible enough to measure liquidity properly, and at the listing level, the panic inverts. As of August 31:
| Metro Vancouver, for sale | Condos | Houses |
|---|---|---|
| Active listings | 8,154 | 7,823 |
| Median days on market | 62 | 71 |
Vancouver condos sit a median 62 days on market against 71 for houses. Relative to the pace at which each segment actually sells, house inventory runs roughly 60% deeper than condo inventory. And a house listing is more likely than a condo listing to be withdrawn without a sale. Condo prices are falling, and the falling prices are finding buyers. It is house sellers, holding out at asking prices the market isn't meeting, whose listings more often go nowhere.
Sellers are adjusting, not capitulating
If the condo market were seizing, asking prices would be either frozen (sellers in denial) or collapsing (sellers in flight). Neither shows up. The share of active listings with at least one asking-price cut, and the median total cut among them:
| Market | Condos cut | Houses cut | Median cut depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary | 36.3% | 32.0% | 3–4% |
| Toronto | 14.9% | 12.7% | 4–5% |
| Vancouver | 18.1% | 16.7% | 4–5% |
| Montréal | ~27% | ~27% | ~4% |
Two things stand out. Condos get cut modestly more often than houses in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver (a 2–4 point gap, real but hardly a rout), and in Montréal there is no gap at all. And the cuts are small: the median seller who cuts takes 3–5% off, not 15%. Cut rates aren't comparable from one city to the next; the condo-versus-house gap within each city is the meaningful reading.
Inventory and time-on-market, for the same four metros:
| Market | Active condos | Median DOM | Active houses | Median DOM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | 8,549 | 44 | 11,924 | 42 |
| Vancouver | 8,154 | 62 | 7,823 | 71 |
| Montréal | ~9,500 | 83 | ~7,900 | 61 |
| Calgary | 2,733 | 57 | 4,059 | 39 |
Montréal and Calgary show the classic condo-glut signature: condos sitting 22 and 18 days longer than houses respectively. Toronto shows almost none (44 vs 42 days), and Vancouver runs backwards. Whatever is happening to Canadian condos, it is not one thing.
What this means if you own, or want, a condo
For sellers: the data says buyers exist at the right price. A 4–5% cut is what the median successful adjustment looks like in this market; pricing 2021-nostalgic and refusing to move is how listings end up in the withdrawn pile, which in Vancouver is disproportionately a house seller's fate.
For buyers: a 12% national price decline with functioning liquidity is closer to a window than a falling knife, at least in the markets where condos are still clearing. The Princeps Analyst can run the comparables, rent estimates and days-on-market evidence for any specific building or neighbourhood, which is where a national average stops being useful.
Methodology
Princeps computed every figure in this post from its database of Canadian residential listings: all active for-sale listings in the Toronto, Vancouver, Montréal and Calgary metropolitan areas as of August 31, 2026, and a national price index built on roughly eight years of sale prices, adjusted for the mix of properties selling in any given month. The limitation that matters most: complete sale records are not public everywhere in Canada, so liquidity is compared condo-against-house within a city rather than reported as an absolute rate.
Frequently asked questions
Are condo prices falling in Canada in 2026? Yes. The Princeps national condo index is down 12.0% year over year as of August 2026 and 14.6% below its November 2025 peak. House prices are roughly flat to slightly up nationally.
Is every Canadian condo market falling? No. Quebec's condo index hit a record high in August 2026, up 12.1% year over year. The declines are concentrated where the 2020–22 run-up was steepest, led by Ontario and BC.
Is it a buyer's market for condos? By inventory and time-on-market, yes in Montréal and Calgary; Toronto is balanced-to-soft; in Vancouver, condos are clearing faster than houses. Leverage depends on the segment and street, not the country.
Will condo prices recover in 2026? Our data measures what is, not what will be. What we can say: prices are falling while transactions continue. That is a repricing, not a freeze. The number to watch is whether liquidity holds as prices fall; we track both weekly.
What to watch next
September's data will show whether Vancouver's condo liquidity survives the fall listing season, and whether Quebec's record run extends. The Bank of Canada's September 2 decision (a seventh consecutive hold, if the consensus is right) lands before either. We'll update these numbers when the market moves them.