Canadian housing starts, also known as new home construction, rose 14 per cent in September compared with the previous month — a sharper increase than expected, data from the national housing agency showed on Thursday.

The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts was 279,234 units, up from a revised 244,543 units in August, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said.

Economists had expected new builds to rise to 255,000 units.

In a real estate landscape where choice is often limited and transparency is all too rare, Hyyve is rewriting the rules — and making the process work better for everyone involved.

Fresh off its recent launch, the Toronto-based platform is quickly gaining traction for the way it empowers sellers, attracts serious buyers, and gives agents a more direct, performance-based path to listings.

But what’s perhaps most striking about Hyyve is how effectively it balances the needs of all key players in a real estate transaction — sellers, buyers, and agents — in one unified experience.

Canada’s fall housing sales saw an “uneven and fragile” market in September, a new report from the Royal Bank of Canada shows.

September data from local real estate boards showed a “low-key start to the fall for Canada’s housing market,” the report said.

While some major markets — Winnipeg, Regina, and Toronto — saw home resales go up from August to September, most markets remained tepid.

Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Hamilton, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax saw slight declines, “suggesting the recovery is still uneven and fragile,” RBC economist Robert Hogue said in the report.

Anyone who has driven down Eastern Avenue between the bustling east-end neighbourhoods of Leslieville and The Beaches (or The Beach) has no doubt noticed the sprawling multi-building white condo taking shape along the road.

This week, the city and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation announced the opening of Don Summerville, a mixed-income, mixed-tenure housing community that they say “sets the bar for new housing developments in Toronto.” 

The Greater Toronto Area is experiencing an unprecedented spike in distressed property sales, with Power of Sale listings surging from just five in September 2020 to 472 last month, according to analysis by the Globe and Mail.

The crisis intensified throughout 2025, with the year already recording 1,232 new Power of Sale listings by September—surpassing all of 2024. Current active listings have increased 59% from the same period last year, with some estimates suggesting that as many as 780 such properties now represent roughly 3% of all GTA listings.

Thirty-three $500,000 “attainable” condo units are being built in Toronto’s east end by the provincial and municipal governments.

As part of a six-storey condo development at 355 Coxwell Ave., the two levels of government are partnering with the nonprofit housing organization, Habitat for Humanity.

According to the provincial government, 22 of the 33 units will be large enough for families to live in. Construction preparations for the building are underway, with the units set to be ready for occupancy by 2027.

Habitat for Humanity called the units “attainable ownership homes” designed for “working families.”

Two years ago, Premier Doug Ford promised Ontarians that the province would soon offer modular “starter homes” for sale for $500,000 or less. 

Canada’s banking regulator has finalized changes to its Capital Adequacy Requirements (CAR) guideline that clarify how lenders must treat income-producing residential real estate.

The revisions, effective with institutions’ first fiscal quarter of 2026, update how banks classify mortgages where rental income is a significant factor.

At OSFI’s quarterly Industry Day, the regulator stressed that income used to qualify for one mortgage cannot simply be counted again for another, tightening how both rental and employment income can be applied across multiple properties.

Mark Joshua, OSFI’s Director of Capital and Liquidity Standards, said the intent is “to ensure that income that’s used for one mortgage is not, then again, used a second time for another one. So…the income that was used on the first mortgage is removed or corrected for” when assessing a borrower’s additional properties.

Canada’s banking regulator has finalized changes to its Capital Adequacy Requirements (CAR) guideline that clarify how lenders must treat income-producing residential real estate.

The revisions, effective with institutions’ first fiscal quarter of 2026, update how banks classify mortgages where rental income is a significant factor.

At OSFI’s quarterly Industry Day, the regulator stressed that income used to qualify for one mortgage cannot simply be counted again for another, tightening how both rental and employment income can be applied across multiple properties.

Mark Joshua, OSFI’s Director of Capital and Liquidity Standards, said the intent is “to ensure that income that’s used for one mortgage is not, then again, used a second time for another one. So…the income that was used on the first mortgage is removed or corrected for” when assessing a borrower’s additional properties.

In mid-August, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced more than 60,000 Ontario public service workers would return to a four-day in-office work week starting in October, before returning to the five-day in-person schedule of the pre-covid days in January 2026. The announcement followed similar moves from Canada’s big banks, including Scotiabank, BMO, TD, and RBC, all of which will require workers to be in office for at least four days a week starting this fall.

The news has been met with mixed reactions from workers themselves, but the return-to-office (RTO) trend undeniably bodes well for commercial real estate — particularly the office and and retail markets — in cities where these businesses and government offices are located.