This week: What the trade war could mean for the market (this time) and the province where rents aren’t declining much. Plus, what $800,000 gets you in cottage country these days, and one property worth a look.

That glimmer of hope for the real-estate market I mentioned last week ? It was over almost as soon as it started. Canada’s trade war with the U.S. is raging once again and threatening to roil home sales and prices just as things were starting to look up.

Real estate agents had reason to believe the worst of the downturn may be over just last week with new data showing improving national home sales for the fourth consecutive month. But as Carolyn Ireland reports, more than a year after Trump’s tariff threats first sent home sales into a tailspin, fresh U.S. levies on many Canadian goods have the housing market bracing for more turbulence.

Buyers and sellers worried about the effects on their jobs, investments and interest rates are on a rollercoaster ride they can’t get off. And many sellers trying to bail are worried they’ll have to sell at a steep loss if buyer confidence doesn’t bounce back. “I honestly don’t know how the fall market will be,” James Warren, a real estate agent with Toronto’s Chestnut Park Real Estate, told Carolyn. “But if you want to sell, you’ve got to price your house for this market.”

Renters have been catching a break across much of Canada for the last year: stable or declining asking rents, more choice and even perks like gift cards to entice them into signing a lease. But in Quebec, a province known for tenant-friendly prices and laws, renters aren’t seeing the same changes.

Rents are actually falling more slowly in Montreal than in cities usually known for being unaffordable and, as Salmaan Farooqui reports, that makes Quebec an unlikely outlier. In August, the average listing rent for a two-bedroom in Montreal was $2,255, down just 0.5 per cent since the same month last year, according to data from Rentals.com. And in 2025, the average amount of rent tenants actually paid increased by 10.5 per cent in Montreal and 9.7 per cent in Quebec City, according to data from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, far outpacing growth in Toronto and Vancouver.

The switch-up seems to be a story of supply, analysts told Salmaan. Montreal and Quebec City’s enormous stock of older duplex and triplex units have made the cities’ lower rents possible, but newer buildings priced higher are creating more competition and demand for the cheapest units. Read the full deep-dive into why renters in Quebec shouldn’t hold their breath for the same price-drops other cities are seeing.

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured vs. uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, August 27.

Whether you spent the summer at your family cottage or just dreaming of owning one, we can all agree there’s nothing like a little slice of the country. And while it’s certainly not cheap, more and more younger Ontario buyers are opting to buy a year-round cottage instead of a shoebox in the city.

Andrea Yu followed Justin Maguire on his recent hunt for a cottage with a lot of land in Prince Edward Country, and what the 39-year-old found for his $800,000 budget might surprise you. The Australian moved to Toronto in 2014 and kept renting there after he bought his first cottage for $330,000 in 2019. He spent years renovating it before a permaculture course inspired him to sell it (for $565,000 in 2025) and look for a property with more room to grow his own food.

Maguire had three options, from an older four-bedroom farmhouse to a waterfront three-bedroom home outside his original search area. Which option did he choose? Read Andrea’s story to see and vote on which one you would pick.