Regional jobs snapshot and housing splits

Canada’s job market and housing market are no longer moving in lockstep across cities. In March, Canada’s unemployment rate held at 6.7%, while Toronto’s was 8.1% in the latest regional housing snapshot. (statcan.gc.ca) (trreb.ca) Statistics Canada said employment was little changed in March, up 14,000 from February, after a combined decline of 109,000 jobs in January and February 2026. Average hourly wages rose 4.7% from a year earlier to $37.73. (statcan.gc.ca) Toronto’s housing data moved the other way on prices. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said the Greater Toronto Area average selling price was $1,017,796 in March 2026, down 6.7% from March 2025, while the benchmark price was down 7.4%. (trreb.ca) Montreal’s market showed a different pattern. The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers said 5,045 homes sold in the Montreal census metropolitan area in March, up 2% from a year earlier, and market trackers using that data put single-family home prices up about 6.9% year over year. (apciq.ca) (wowa.ca) The split fits the national outlook from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Its 2026 forecast says Ontario and British Columbia are expected to post weaker construction and resale activity than their 10-year averages, while Quebec and the Prairies are expected to stay above historical averages. (cmhc-schl.gc.ca) Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation also said Ontario is the only region where home prices are expected to decline in 2026. The agency tied the broader slowdown to soft labour markets, slower income growth, lower population growth and continued trade uncertainty. (cmhc-schl.gc.ca) In Toronto, the real estate board said sales rose 1.7% from a year earlier to 5,039 in March even as new listings fell 16.7% to 14,442. Chief Information Officer Jason Mercer said buyers still had “substantial negotiating power on price” across major segments. (trreb.ca) In Montreal, the brokerage association said March ended four straight months of year-over-year sales declines, but activity still ran slightly below the city’s 10-year March average of 5,245 sales. That leaves a market with firmer prices than Toronto, but not a broad surge in transactions. (apciq.ca) The national number is still one number. By April 2026, the labour survey, the Toronto board and Quebec brokers were all describing the same country with different local conditions: weaker jobs and lower prices in Toronto, steadier sales and rising detached-home prices in Montreal. (statcan.gc.ca) (trreb.ca) (apciq.ca)