Luxury sales jump in Calgary, Edmonton, fall in Vancouver

Luxury home sales rose in seven of 13 Canadian markets in the first nine months of 2026, led by Burlington, Ont., St. John’s and Calgary, while Greater Vancouver fell 17.0 per cent, RE/MAX Canada said in a report published Nov. 9.

The RE/MAX Spotlight on Luxury report compares sales from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 with the same period of 2025. RE/MAX defines luxury in each market as sales at or above twice that market’s average sale price, drawing on local real estate boards and RE/MAX brokers.

Canada News Media added the report’s market counts together. The 13 markets recorded 3,954 luxury sales this year against 3,976 a year earlier, a decline of 0.6 per cent. Because each market has its own threshold and the report’s footnotes show some markets count only detached homes or only single-family homes, the total is a rough gauge, not an official national figure.

The flat total hides a clear split. Calgary (the city proper), Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg combined for 1,313 luxury sales, up 15.5 per cent from 1,137. Greater Vancouver, the Greater Toronto Area and Oakville, Ont., combined for 1,500, down 12.9 per cent from 1,722. Both sums are Canada News Media calculations from the report’s table.

Calgary sold 563 homes at $1.5 million or more, up 20.6 per cent from 467. Edmonton recorded 458 sales at $1 million or more, up 15.9 per cent from 395. Saskatoon rose 15.3 per cent to 83 sales at $900,000 or more, and Winnipeg rose 3.0 per cent to 209.

In Greater Vancouver, 594 homes sold at $3 million or more, down from 716. The GTA recorded 841 sales at $3 million or more, down 9.4 per cent from 928. Oakville, where the threshold is $3.25 million, fell 16.7 per cent to 65 sales from 78.

Burlington posted the biggest gain, up 26.3 per cent to 72 sales at $2.4 million or more from 57. St. John’s rose 21.0 per cent to 75 sales at $800,000 or more. Ottawa rose 7.6 per cent to 240. Montreal slipped 3.7 per cent to 237, London-St. Thomas fell 3.4 per cent to 309, and Halifax-Dartmouth was nearly unchanged at 208 against 209.

The top end of some expensive markets held up better than the overall numbers. RE/MAX said GTA sales above $7.5 million rose 17.6 per cent, Oakville sales above $5 million rose almost 18 per cent, and Calgary’s $2-million to $3-million segment rose 46.4 per cent. The report also said the GTA’s year-to-date decline narrowed from 16.9 per cent in the spring to 9.4 per cent, and Greater Vancouver’s from 19.8 per cent to 17.0 per cent.

“More choice gives buyers leverage, not a blank cheque,” said Don Kottick, president of RE/MAX Canada.

Michael Altneu, RE/MAX’s vice-president of luxury, said: “Wealth enables a home purchase; confidence and the right opportunity motivate it.”

The report’s study period ended before the Bank of Canada raised its policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.5 per cent on Oct. 28, RE/MAX noted. Canada News Media reported on the rate decision and its early effect on Toronto and Vancouver, where October sales fell as sellers pulled back faster than buyers. Toronto’s board later reported that home sales fell 7.9 per cent in October, and Calgary’s board said sales fell 15.3 per cent that month.

The report also cites Budget 2026, tabled Nov. 5, which proposed extending the foreign-buyer ban on existing homes to Jan. 1, 2029, with new homes exempt. Canada News Media has details on that proposal.

The full report is available from RE/MAX Canada. Figures are as published by RE/MAX; the combined totals are Canada News Media’s own arithmetic.

If you find reporting like this useful, consider supporting Canada News Media, an independently owned Canadian newsroom.