Homes under $500K taking up bigger share in Ontario real estate market: report

Condos account for much of the recent uptick in affordability, data shows

A new report says homes valued under $500,000 are taking up a bigger share of Ontario's real estate landscape, led by a shift in the condominium market.

New data released by the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC) showed those lower-valued homes now account for nearly 24 per cent of Ontario's real estate market, up from 17 per cent in 2022.

Despite that improvement, which MPAC said signals "a rebalancing in the housing market," the report said the share of homes priced below $500,000 is still well below that of a decade ago when they made up 67 per cent.

"The past decade has reshaped Ontario's housing market, and while prices remain elevated, there have been corrections from peak conditions," the organization's chief assessor and data officer Greg Martino said in a news release.

The share of homes valued over $1 million has dropped from the 2022 peak of 35 per cent to about one-quarter today.

Condos account for much of the recent uptick in affordability, with 46 per cent of that housing segment valued under $500,000 in 2026, up from 24 per cent just four years ago.

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Townhomes, detached, semi-detached homes remain less affordable

The report noted other housing types remain less accessible. Just five per cent of townhouses are valued under $500,000 today, up from the 2022 low of three per cent but down sharply from 69 per cent in 2016.

For semi-detached homes, 15 per cent are valued under $500,000, down from 52 per cent in 2016. Across the detached market, 18 per cent are below that price point, down from 60 per cent a decade ago.

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More communities throughout Ontario are moving into lower price ranges, according to the data. Between 2022 and 2026, the number of municipalities with a median home value above $750,000 dropped to 65 from 105.

The report said several communities just outside the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, where more than half of homes were valued above $750,000 in 2022, now contain a majority of homes under that threshold. Those include Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Hamilton, Collingwood, Kawartha Lakes, Gravenhurst and Brock.

"For buyers previously priced out of the Toronto area, these shifts may widen the range of communities within reach," it said.