Sub-$500K Homes Gain Ground in Ontario, but Affordability Remains Limited
Ontario’s housing market is seeing a modest shift toward greater affordability. A new report from the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC) shows that homes priced below $500,000 now represent nearly 24% of the province’s real estate market, up from 17% in 2022. The share of million-dollar homes has fallen from 35% to roughly one-quarter, suggesting that prices have eased from their pandemic-era peaks. Nevertheless, entry-level homes remain scarce relative to a decade ago, when properties under $500,000 accounted for about two-thirds of the market .
Condominiums are driving much of this change: 46% of condo units in 2026 are valued under $500,000, compared with 24% four years earlier . Other housing types have not rebounded as strongly; only about 5% of townhouses, 15% of semi-detached houses and 18% of detached homes fall below the $500,000 mark—far below the levels seen a decade ago . MPAC notes that more municipalities now have median home prices under $750,000, with the number of communities above that threshold shrinking from 105 to 65 since 2022, and areas such as Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Hamilton and others near the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area now offering a majority of homes under $750,000 .
Read on: Canadian Mortgage Trends
