Affordability gains are concentrated in the condo segment, with low-priced supply still scarce across detached and townhome stock. The share of Ontario residential properties valued under C$500,000 has climbed to nearly 24 per cent, up from 17 per cent in 2022, as a correction in the condominium sector ushers in a structural rebalancing of the province’s real estate market, fresh data from the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. shows.
Despite four consecutive years of growth in lower-priced inventory, the figure remains a fraction of levels seen a decade ago. In 2016, 67 per cent of Ontario homes sat below the C$500,000 mark, reflecting a historic runup in prices that has permanently shifted the market’s price centre higher. At the opposite end of the spectrum, homes valued above C$1 million now account for roughly one-quarter of total stock, down from a 2022 peak of 35 per cent, as the pandemic-era housing boom continues to unwind.
Condominiums are driving nearly all of the recent affordability improvement. As of 2026, 46 per cent of units in the segment fall below the C$500,000 threshold — a doubling from 24 per cent just four years earlier. The gains are far more muted across other housing types: only 5 per cent of townhouses are now priced under C$500,000, up marginally from a 2022 low of 3 per cent but a steep drop from 69 per cent in 2016. Semi-detached and detached homes follow the same downward trajectory, with 15 per cent and 18 per cent respectively below the price point, compared with 52 per cent and 60 per cent a decade ago.
The shift is also reshaping regional affordability across the province. Between 2022 and 2026, the number of Ontario municipalities with a median home value above C$750,000 fell to 65 from 105. Communities on the fringes of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area — including Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Hamilton, Collingwood and Kawartha Lakes — have recorded the sharpest pullback, with a majority of homes now dipping below the C$750,000 mark after topping that threshold in 2022. The trend is expanding the geographic pool of options for buyers priced out of Toronto’s core, the report noted.
“The past decade has reshaped Ontario’s housing market, and while prices remain elevated, there have been corrections from peak conditions,” Greg Martino, MPAC’s chief assessor and data officer, said in a statement, adding that the data signals “a rebalancing in the housing market.”
Still, the recovery in affordability remains narrowly concentrated in the condo sector, with tight low-priced supply persisting across ground-related housing. The report suggests Ontario is still years away from regaining the broad-based accessibility it had a decade ago, even as the pullback from 2022’s market highs extends to more communities.
