Using your RRSP for a down payment: the Home Buyers' Plan in 2026, with the math
First-time buyers can take up to $60,000 each out of their RRSPs for a down payment, tax-free and interest-free. Ottawa has now extended the five-year repayment holiday to withdrawals made up to the end of 2028. Here's how it works and what the repayments look like.
GTA Housing Market Update, September 2026 — buyers in a holding pattern, sellers holding back too
Sales fell 9% from last September, but new listings fell faster, down 14.4%. The benchmark price is 4.7% below a year ago and edged lower again from August. TRREB's September report, and what it means for buyers, sellers and investors this fall.
Durham Region Market Snapshot, September 2026 — the GTA's tightest market, and Whitby leads it
Durham had the least supply of any GTA region in September, 3.5 months, and Whitby just 2.9. Homes sold faster than in any of the other big GTA regions, in 30 days on average. Prices are still 5.2% below last year, with townhouses down the most. City by city.
City of Toronto Market Snapshot, September 2026 — the east end is still selling over asking, and Scarborough splits
Toronto's benchmark is down 3.8% on the year, but its east end sold for 101% of asking on average, the strongest in the GTA. In Scarborough, E07 sold over asking and townhouse prices in E09 and E10 are up on the year, while E11 fell the most. District by district.
York Region Market Snapshot, September 2026 — the biggest price reset of the big five, and Markham's quick sales
York's benchmark is down 6.5% on the year, the most of the five big GTA regions, and it has the most homes to choose from. Markham is the exception: it has the least supply in York, and it sells quickly. Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Newmarket and Aurora.
Peel Region Market Snapshot, September 2026 — down 18.6% in three years, and buyers are still showing up
Peel's benchmark is 18.6% below three years ago, the deepest reset of any GTA region, and Brampton apartments are down 12% in a year alone. Sales held closer to last year's pace than in any other big GTA region. Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon.
Halton Region Market Snapshot, September 2026 — the steadiest prices of the big five, and the hardest bargaining
Halton's benchmark is down just 3.4% on the year, the smallest drop of the five big GTA regions. But its homes sold for 96% of asking on average, the lowest in the GTA, so buyers are negotiating. Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills.
Where GTA homes are still selling in days — the neighbourhoods that are a seller's market right now
Across the GTA the market is balanced: the typical home takes 24 days to sell and goes for about 97% of asking. But a handful of neighbourhoods are running the other way, with homes selling within a week and at or over asking. Here is where, from every sale that firmed up in the last 60 days.
Where $500K, $800K and $1M buy a detached house around the GTA — community by community, with school scores
Only about one detached sale in a hundred in the GTA closed under $500,000 last year. At $800,000 Oshawa, Whitby, Brampton and parts of Scarborough open up, and at $1M Whitby and Pickering have the best schools for the money. Every community, with the share of homes that sold under each budget and how the nearby elementary schools score.
GTA Housing Market Update, August 2026 — fewer listings, and prices that stopped falling
New listings fell 14.1% while sales slipped only 2.1%. The average price dipped back under $1 million, but the benchmark price held flat month over month. TRREB's August report, and what it means heading into the fall.
Durham Region Market Snapshot, August 2026 — freehold holding up, condos and towns taking the hit
Durham's benchmark price is down 4.6% on the year, but not evenly. Detached homes are off about 4%; townhouses and apartments are off 7 to 10%. Whitby is the tightest market, Oshawa the most supplied. City by city, from our own count of August sales.
Peel Region Market Snapshot, August 2026 — the biggest price drop of the three, and a buyers' market in Caledon
Peel's benchmark price is down 5.2% on the year, more than Durham or Halton, and unlike those regions the detached homes are falling as fast as everything else. Sales held steady. Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon, from our own count of August sales.
Halton Region Market Snapshot, August 2026 — the GTA region that held its value best
Halton's benchmark price is down just 3.0% on the year, the smallest decline of the GTA regions we track, and detached homes are off only 3.4%. Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills, from our own count of August sales.
The war that built Durham: six places between Ajax and Bowmanville where the Second World War actually happened
If you live in south Ajax, your street is almost certainly named after a sailor. A shell-filling plant the size of twelve square kilometres stood where your subdivision is. Ten kilometres east, Britain ran a secret agent school on the lakeshore. In Bowmanville, German U-boat commanders tunnelled under a boys' school. This is the history under Durham Region — what happened, what is still standing, and how to go and see it.
The same house, $357,000 apart — what a four-bedroom detached costs across Whitby
A four-bedroom detached home sold for a median of $1,195,000 in Rural Whitby and $838,000 in Downtown Whitby over the past two years. Same bedroom count, same house type, one town — a 43% difference that is location and nothing else. And the neighbourhoods where buyers bid over asking are not the expensive ones. Ten Whitby communities, 898 sales, with the method shown.
The first two weeks decide the price — what 4,301 Oshawa sales say about time on market
Homes that sold in Oshawa within a week got 101.1% of their asking price. Homes that took more than sixty days got 96.4%. The gap is worth about $34,000 on a typical Oshawa house — and the median sold price is almost identical in both groups, so this is not simply cheap homes selling fast. Here is the full picture from five years of TRREB sold data, with the method shown.
The Durham Meadoway — a 27 km linear park from Pickering to Oshawa, and what it means for your street
A hydro corridor running the width of Durham is being reimagined as a continuous trail and linear park, from Rouge National Urban Park to Simcoe Street in Oshawa. Ottawa put money behind it in August. Here is what is actually funded, where it runs through each town, and what the research says about living near a trail.
GTA Housing Market Update, July 2026 — a quiet summer that quietly tightened
Sales held flat while new listings fell 17.8%. TRREB's July report shows a market with less choice and less room to negotiate heading into the fall — here's the GTA picture and what it means for buyers and sellers.
Durham Region Market Snapshot, July 2026 — the GTA's value and speed play
Durham was the most affordable and fastest-moving of the GTA's major regions in July — 3.4 months of inventory, homes selling in 27 days at 98% of asking. Where each city sits, from Oshawa to Uxbridge.
Peel Region Market Snapshot, July 2026 — the busiest market, with the most choice
Peel posted the highest sales count of the GTA's western regions in July and carried 5.0 months of inventory — the most breathing room we track. Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon, side by side.
Halton Region Market Snapshot, July 2026 — the premium end, where pricing precision matters
Halton carried the highest average price of the western GTA in July and a slightly more measured pace — 36 days to sell at 96% of asking. Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills, compared.
Seaton and the North Pickering build-out — what 70,000 new neighbours mean for Durham
One of Ontario's largest planned communities is rising in north Pickering — up to 70,000 residents, 35,000 jobs, and a toll-free Highway 407. Here's what Seaton means for buyers, sellers, and investors across Durham.
Mississauga's renoviction by-law: what landlords and renters need to know
Mississauga now requires a licence to evict a tenant for renovations. Here's what the new by-law does, when it starts, and what it means whether you own a rental or live in one.
GTA Market Watch, June 2026 — what it means for Ajax
Sales up 9.4%, listings down again, price declines narrowing — TRREB's June report confirms the tightening. Where the Ajax benchmark sits, and why homes here sold in 20 days at full asking.
GTA Market Watch, May 2026 — what it means for Ajax
The GTA's May numbers — sales, prices and the HPI benchmark — and what they actually mean for Ajax buyers and sellers.
Buying in Ajax? Here's what the numbers are actually telling you
Prices look like they're falling one month and climbing the next — and both can be true. Here's how to read HPI vs. sold price so you know what you'll really pay.