Detached Home Buyers Return in Force Across Toronto and Vancouver's Priciest Pockets

Buyers appear to be circling back to Canada's detached housing market, drawn in by pricing that has cooled meaningfully from its pandemic-era peak, according to a new report from RE/MAX Canada.

The 2026 RE/MAX Canada Hot Pocket Communities Report examined 83 individual markets across the Greater Toronto Area, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley between January and June of this year. It found that 61 per cent of those markets, 51 of 83, recorded detached home sales ahead of where they stood a year earlier. Prices, however, told a different story: only six per cent of markets, or five of 83, saw values actually rise over the same period.

The Fraser Valley stood out as the strongest region in the report, with every one of its six communities, including Abbotsford, Mission, White Rock/South Surrey, Langley, Delta North and the City of Surrey, posting sales gains, four of them in the double digits. Toronto's central 416 core wasn't far behind, with 60 per cent of its communities reporting increased detached sales activity, while Greater Vancouver saw nearly 59 per cent of its markets improve.

Two neighbourhoods led the pack by a wide margin: New Westminster in Greater Vancouver and a cluster of Toronto communities including Newtonbrook West and Willowdale West, both posting sales increases north of 50 per cent.

"There's no question that buyers are cautiously optimistic, taking advantage of pricing that is off peak pandemic levels," said Don Kottick, president of RE/MAX Canada. He added that it's too early to call the shift a full recovery, since the rebound remains narrow, selective and far from guaranteed, with affordability, buyer confidence and the risk of shadow inventory still very much open questions.

With detached inventory continuing to thin out as more of it gets absorbed by returning buyers, RE/MAX suggested that upward pressure on prices could follow, particularly in the more affordable corners of these markets that have drawn renewed interest this year.