Canadians are anxious about the economic future, but a growing number still have a new home on their 2026 wishlist.
According to Re/Max Canada’s 2026 Housing Market Outlook, 10 per cent of Canadians plan to buy a home in the next 12 months, and half of them are first-time buyers. Re/Max expects home sales will increase by 3.4 per cent next year.
This is in spite of tariffs and a sluggish job market, which have put a damper on consumer sentiment this year. According to the report, which is based on a Leger survey, more than half of Canadians feel the economy will worsen in 2026.
How can Canadians feel so much uncertainty, while at the same time be prepared to buy real estate?
Canadians became “comfortable with uncertainty”
At the root of demand is the “chronic shortage” of housing relative to the population that’s built up over decades, coupled with record immigration, according to Re/Max Canada president Don Kottick.
Kottick told Real Estate Magazine that 2025 started on a high note for the real estate industry, until tariffs started being imposed by the United States, which caused people to get nervous, thus stalling the housing market.
“I think the majority of the people would have hoped that the Canadian government could be like some of the other foreign governments and resolve their tariff issues. But they continue not to do it, and time goes on,” said Kottick in an interview. “It’s just a matter of the consumers getting comfortable in this state of uncertainty, and they said, ‘You know what, I’ve sat on the sidelines long enough.”
Of the Canadians surveyed by Leger, those aged 18 to 35 are more hopeful, with 21 per cent feeling the economy will fare better next year.
Homeownership as a Canadian value
Re/Max brokers and agents across Canada found that families, new Canadians and retirees drove a larger share of sales in 2025, marking a significant shift from 2024, when first-time buyers led sales across most Canadian markets, according to the report.
Kottick said the wealth transfer between generations is spurring transactions, as are downsizing Baby Boomers. The gap between the cost of renting and owning has narrowed, said Kottick, motivating renters to get on the housing ladder also.
Plus, said Kottick, real estate continues to be the top contributor to household wealth in Canada.
“Home ownership is still part of our culture. Canadians want to buy, and they want to own their own home. That’s just who we are.”
Return-to-office mandates cause some to proceed with caution
While nearly half of respondents overall do not believe return-to-office will impact their situation, respondents aged 18 to 34 and those planning to buy in the future are thinking more about how this might affect their search, with 17 per cent of survey respondents concerned about ‘return to office’ mandates.
Kottick said he hasn’t seen a monumental impact on the market due to companies calling people back to the office.
“I think it’s impacting some of the market, but not a substantial amount of the market,” he said.
He said since the mass exodus of city dwellers to the country over the pandemic, some people are deciding rural living isn’t for them, while others are deciding to be closer to transportation in case they are impacted by a return-to-office mandate.
Courtney Zwicker is a digital reporter and associate editor for REM. Based in Atlantic Canada, she has over a decade of experience covering daily business news.