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    August 20, 2026

    Canadian Reference Guide

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    35% of Millennials and Gen Z Prioritize Projects to Enjoy Their Home Compared to Only 21% of Boomers
    Click to enlarge
    35% of Millennials and Gen Z Prioritize Projects to Enjoy Their Home Compared to Only 21% of Boomers
    Click to enlarge
    35% of Millennials and Gen Z Prioritize Projects to Enjoy Their Home Compared to Only 21% of Boomers

    Canada's housing completions hit a 25-year high in 2025, reaching 259,026 units. 

    Completions rose 23.2% from 2024's 210,223 units, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Total housing starts climbed alongside them, up 5.6% to 259,028 units from 245,367 in 2024.

    Canadian retail sales at building material and garden equipment dealers reached $47.3 billion in 2025, up 3.4% from 2024.

    Sales in this category have grown every year since 2019, up nearly 28% over that stretch, according to Statistics Canada.

    Canadian home prices are diverging sharply by region, Newfoundland and Labrador is up 9.3% year over year, while Ontario is down 2.9%.

    The national average price ticked up just 0.2% year over year to $674,819, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association. Smaller Atlantic and Prairie markets are driving most of the growth, while Ontario and British Columbia, the country's two largest markets by value, both declined.

    Sim­i­lar to the HIRI US Ref­er­ence Guide, this report con­tains an overview of sta­tis­tics rel­e­vant to the Cana­di­an home improve­ment mar­ket. Sec­tions include con­sumer expen­di­tures, employ­ment, hous­ing, income, mar­ket size, and population.

    Objectives

    Pro­vide key macro-eco­nom­ic indi­ca­tors rel­e­vant to the home improve­ment mar­ket in Cana­da includ­ing pop­u­la­tion char­ac­ter­is­tics, employ­ment, and income figures.

    Present rel­e­vant data on con­sumer expen­di­tures, hous­ing char­ac­ter­is­tics and hous­ing activity.

    Com­pile these met­rics by region to high­light region­al vari­a­tions and trends where possible.

    Canadian Reference Guide 2026 Introduction

    Research Files

    Data File(s)

    Canadian Reference Guide 2026 Data File

    Past Iterations

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