Why Regina's hot real estate market could continue to produce record prices in 2026

After achieving new heights in 2025, Regina’s housing market appears to be well positioned for another strong year in 2026.

That’s according to the Saskatchewan Realtors Association (SRA), which says the record numbers from this past year might continue in 2026 as factors that inflated 2025 prices continue to linger.

In March of this year, the average monthly sale price of a detached home in Regina topped $400,000 for the first time, according to a December report from the SRA, which cites data going back to 2014.

So, what’s driving this trend in the Queen City?

A seller’s market

It was an especially competitive market for prospective home buyers in Regina from March to August of this year.

The SRA’s data shows a trend of more buyers willing to pay above the list price for detached homes. In June, for example, they paid an average of 1.7 per cent above the asking price, according to the same report, which says buyers were on average paying above sticker price for six months of the year on detached homes.

According to the SRA, Regina’s inventory was so low in 2025 that homes were on the market for a short duration. That favours the sellers, who can benefit from bidding wars that drive up prices.

The SRA says June featured the quickest turnaround between listing and finalizing a sale. Properties spent an average of 23 days on the market, which is a new monthly low.

Although there’s often fluctuation in the number of days for a home to be on the market, it has typically taken around double that time, notes the SRA report.

One reason for the increased demand could be an influx of people from other parts of Canada or outside the country who want to buy homes. Saskatchewan’s population grew from 1.23 million at the start of 2024 to 1.26 million at the beginning of 2025, according to data on the Government of Saskatchewan’s website.

“I think 2026 will be just another one of those years where sellers will benefit from a great combination of buyers wanting to come and call Saskatchewan home,” says Tyler Hudy, the SRA’s vice-president of public affairs and communications.

Law of supply and demand

In order to achieve a healthy and balanced market, the number of homes up for sale needs to keep pace with a growing population.

In Regina’s case, “tight supply is affecting everything across all price ranges,” says Hudy.

That supply comprises resold properties and new builds. Options range from apartments and townhouses to semi-detached and fully detached homes of one or two storeys.

The margin between interested purchasers and the number of homes ready for purchase has been narrowing over the past two years in Regina, says the SRA.

For example, if no new listings were posted, it’s estimated that the current supply would be depleted in only two months, based on SRA’s data.

Hudy says a comfortable housing market would have enough inventory to accommodate demand for a period of three to five months. But the last time Regina’s market had that level of supply was back in 2023.

Developers have been keeping just ahead of what they believe buyers need, according to Stu Niebergall, CEO of the Regina and Region Home Builders’ Association (RRHBA).

Over the past year, the average number of unsold single family homes in Regina each month ranged from 20 to 25, which Niebergall says is an “exceptionally low number.”

Will rising costs deter new builds?

The RRHBA publishes an annual home building forecast by collecting data from its members and various housing statistics.

Although the next report is not yet completed, Niebergall says the information points to housing starts being down in 2026 compared to this year, meaning fewer homes in the pipeline.

This year, housing starts were tallied at 1,600-1,700. Niebergall projects next year’s number at around 1,200-1,500.

General inflation and other rising costs can impact home builders before trickling down to consumers. Part of what’s deterring developers is an anticipation of public policy revisions, says Niebergall, who notes that the industry is waiting on proposed changes to building codes in the new year designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan’s Build Schools Faster Act was passed in November with the intent to streamline land acquisition for schools. It’s another factor which the RRHBA thinks will drive land prices up by two per cent.

The City of Regina may also introduce a development charge on construction, says Niebergall, adding that “death by a thousand cuts” will affect costs next year.

“When you stack all these changes and all these unknowns, that’s what creates an environment where the industry will make decisions that are more short term because they don’t know what the long-term risk is.”

Canada’s ‘hottest market’

A housing outlook from Toronto-Dominion Bank, released in October, characterizes Saskatchewan as having “taken the mantle as the hottest housing market in the country.”

TD’s report says population gains and “robust job growth” are contributing to greater demand for home purchases, which leads to higher prices.

Looking ahead to 2026, TD predicts that job growth will begin to slow, thus “sapping some steam” from home prices in the second half of the year.

Still, a recent market forecast by national real estate company Royal LePage projects that the median price of a home in Regina will increase by four per cent for all housing types in 2026.

The report, which aggregates price data differently than the SRA, predicts single-family detached homes will jump 4.5 per cent — from $436,500 to $456,038. Condominium prices are expected to see modest gains of 2.5 per cent next year ($224,700 to $230,318).

Real estate competitor REMAX projects that Regina’s residential sales will rise two per cent in 2026. That means a strong seller’s market is expected to continue, says Chad Ehman, a sales representative from Royal LePage.

“Unless a significant surge in new listings enters the market,” he says, “we expect conditions to continue favouring sellers, with consistent demand and moderate price gains throughout the year.”

Related

nyking@postmedia.com

The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.