Somehow, Montreal’s condos are now more expensive than Toronto’s
Selling prices here have dropped to pre-pandemic levels
Toronto’s condos have become more affordable than Montreal’s for the first time in 16 years, with selling prices now at pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report from RBC Economics.
The study says that Toronto’s condo affordability index—the percentage of pre-tax income the average family would spend on housing—was 36.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, while Montreal’s was 36.3 per cent. Condo prices in Toronto today are nearly at the level of 2019’s fourth quarter. That price drop, along with rising incomes, has helped roll back the “pandemic-era affordability deterioration entirely,” says RBC.
Nationally, the affordability index for condos was 35.2 per cent early this year, just above the 2019 mark of 34.4 per cent. And of course, since we’re still trapped in a housing crisis, all of these figures exceed the recommended 30 per cent affordability threshold.
Toronto’s overall housing affordability index is far worse, at 65.2 per cent. Other housing types are not following the condo trend, with single-detached home affordability remaining “severely strained,” according to RBC. Ownership costs for those homes would consume more than 80 per cent of the average household’s pre-tax income, “cementing Toronto’s position as Canada’s second least affordable market overall,” after Vancouver.
