The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), and other major real estate boards across Canada developed the most advanced and accurate tool to gauge a neighbourhood’s home price levels and trends: the MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI). The MLS® HPI is calculated using a sophisticated statistical model that takes into account a home’s quantitative (e.g., the number of rooms it has) and qualitative (e.g., whether it has a finished basement) features.

The MLS® HPI traditionally is less volatile than average and median measures, which can swing dramatically in response to changes in the number of very expensive or inexpensive home sales from one time period to the next. The MLS® HPI is based on the value home buyers assign to various housing attributes, which tend to evolve gradually over time. It therefore provides an “apples to apples” comparison of home prices across the entire country.