Joe Siegfried, left, and Brad Dougherty spent $210,000 renovating their downtown Toronto condo.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
The two-bedroom condo unit was a time capsule from the early 1980s. Located in Toronto’s Garden District, it hadn’t been touched in more than 40 years. Then, in August, 2023, Joe Siegfried and his husband purchased the third-floor corner suite with $640,000 and a vision to transform the 1,400 square-foot unit into “the last place where we’re going to live.”
The previous year, the couple had completed renovations to the four-bedroom Mississauga, Ont., backsplit they had lived in for 15 years, including repainting the entire house, fully renovating the kitchen and finishing the floors. “We ended up spending about $45,000, which was nothing when I think about what we spent here,” Mr. Siegfried said.
One renovation behind them, they sold the backsplit and used the funds to completely make over the downtown apartment. After a flurry of activity spanning just six months in 2024, the couple finished a complete gut and remodel, including new ductwork and wiring for overhead lighting.
The total renovation cost? A whopping $210,000.
Canadians spent an estimated $300-billion on renovations between 2019 and 2023, an increase of 8 per cent over the previous five-year period.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
Since 2020, renovation prices have increased the most in the Greater Toronto Area compared to 15 other Canadian cities, according to StatsCan’s Residential Renovation Price Index (RRPI). The quarterly index measures changes in prices charged by renovation contractors for a range of residential projects, including materials, labour, equipment, overhead and profit.
Canadian homeowners have still been spending on updating their properties, even as residential renovation costs have risen more than 50 per cent nationally since 2020. However, this year shows signs of a slowdown due to tariff-related uncertainty – renovation spending in Toronto decreased 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2025.
The latest RRPI report noted renovations requiring substantial amounts of concrete and lumber saw the largest cost increases in the first quarter of this year.
Between 2019 and 2023, Canadians spent an estimated $300-billion on renovations, an increase of 8 per cent over the previous five-year period, according to Total Residential Renovation Expenditures data compiled by IBISWorld-Canada. Renovations in Toronto and Vancouver lead the way.
Renovating older homes with unpredictable issues can quickly swallow a budget.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
For example, the cost to install windows and doors increased by 83 per cent in Toronto since 2020, while roofing prices went up 92 per cent. In comparison, Vancouver roofing costs rose 34 per cent, while window and door installs climbed 35 per cent.
Some of this activity can be linked to hot real estate markets, with many homeowners opting to renovate their existing home rather than buying and moving. President of Re/Max Canada, Christopher Alexander, said in a September, 2024, press release that “homeowners who can’t find what they want in the market will buy an older home in an area of their choice and renovate.” Re/Max said it expected this trend to increase in years to come.
Meanwhile, Canada’s housing stock is aging. Rehabbing older homes with unpredictable issues can eat up a budget – fast. Mr. Siegfried said levelling the floor was one unexpected expense, and flooring costs ended up being a full third of their budget: “We probably spent too much on the floor,” he said.
Still, in 2025, it seems Canadians are more likely to “love it” than “list it.” A November, 2024, report by CIBC found nearly half of Canadians are in the process of planning, executing or completing home improvements. In that survey, homeowners reported an average expected renovation cost of $19,000 – nearly double the spend compared to 2019.
Lower interest rates may end up spurring more renovations despite lower consumer confidence.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
Sarah Caron, director of renovation services at the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA), notes the renovation market is a bigger contributor to the Canadian economy than new home building. “The increase is slowing, but prices to renovate have increased significantly since the pandemic,” she said. “There’s still a really healthy renovation market.”
In Toronto, homeowners most commonly hired contractors for flooring jobs, followed closely by bathroom renovations, according to CHBA data compiled with consumer research firm Vividata. Homeowners in the Toronto area were two times more likely to replace their flooring compared to other markets. Canada-wide, CHBA’s research showed replacing windows, doors, and insulation was a top priority, likely due to government incentives to install higher efficiency ones.
Lately, renovation price growth appears to be slowing across the country due to tariff-related economic uncertainties. “Consumers seem to be demonstrating a little bit more caution on spend,” said Peter Norman, vice president at Altus Group, a data and information firm focused on the real estate market.
In the renovation sector, firms look at major drivers for growth, including consumer confidence (currently compromised) and interest rates (currently softening). Despite five years of ups and downs marked by pandemic-related supply chain crunches and Trump-related tariff threats, Mr. Norman says Canada’s renovation market is “way more important than new construction in terms of total volume of investments and dollars spent.”
While lower consumer confidence due to tariff uncertainty may be a hit to the renovation market, lower interest rates may end up spurring more renovations.
“On balance, we expect not a strong year, not a weak year, but pretty similar to what we saw last year on renovations,” Mr. Norman said.
