Burlington Real Estate Market Update, September 2026

Twenty-six days.

That's how long the average detached home in Burlington took to sell in September.

Thirty-four a year ago, and thirty-five the month before.

Townhouses and condos took forty-two. Up from thirty-seven last September.

Same city. Same month. One side sped up by nearly a quarter, the other slowed by more than a tenth.

Not a market that's up or down. A market that split, and which half you're standing in decides almost everything about what the next ninety days look like.

And every one of those numbers is shorter than what sellers actually lived through. More on that below.

What's actually selling in Burlington right now?

Detached homes, and faster than they were. Twenty-six days on average in September, down 23.5 percent from a year ago.

The ones with something genuinely rare are gone in three or four days, sometimes with competition.

Rare has been meaning the lot. The location. The thing that can't be renovated in later.

Buyers who have been watching since spring know exactly what they're looking at, and they move when it shows up.

That's not a market cooling off. That's a market where the people still shopping are serious.

Why are condos and townhouses taking so much longer?

Forty-two days in September, and the median price came down 8.2 percent year over year to $670,000.

This is the half of the Burlington market that's genuinely soft.

Supply isn't the problem. There were 314 townhouses and condos for sale at the end of September, down 12 percent from last year, which is 4.1 months of supply.

Demand is the problem. Sixty-nine sales, down 6.8 percent, against detached sales that are falling faster but from a position of real urgency.

If you own a condo or a townhouse in Burlington, your market and your neighbour's detached market are not the same market, and pricing yours against the headlines will cost you.

How long are Burlington homes really sitting?

Longer than the headline. In September the median Burlington home sold 17 days after its latest listing went live, and 25 days after it first came to market.

Here's something most people don't know, and I didn't fully appreciate until I went looking.

When a listing is terminated and relisted, the clock starts over.

So the “days on market” figure counts the listing, not the home. A property that's been available since July, came off, went back on in September and sold, reports as a couple of weeks.

There's a second number that counts the whole thing. Cumulative days on market. It isn't in the monthly report and most people never see it.

Across roughly 2,700 Burlington listings over the past year, the two numbers run about a week apart in the fall. In September, a median of 17 days on the current listing and 25 cumulative.

The gap isn't constant. It's seasonal, and it's widest in winter. In January the median home sold 40 days after its latest listing and 61 days after it first came to market, a difference of three weeks. By March the two numbers had nearly converged.

Which is worth knowing if you're planning when to list. A home that goes on in November and doesn't sell carries that history into the new year, and the number that follows it around is the cumulative one.

If your home has been out there a while and the market reports keep saying two or three weeks, this is the number that matches your experience. You were not imagining it.

Is Burlington a buyer's market or a seller's market?

Depends entirely on the front door. Detached sits at 3.1 months of supply and 26 days. Townhouses and condos sit at 4.1 months and 42 days.

Three months of supply is a seller's market by any conventional reading.

Four is balanced, tipping.

A detached seller in Aldershot and a condo seller downtown are having two completely different autumns, and they're reading the same news about it.

If detached is selling faster, why are sales down?

Because almost nobody is listing. New detached listings were 211 in September, down 14.6 percent. Sales were 77, down 19.8 percent.

Both sides stepped back. Fewer homes came to market, fewer homes sold, and the ones that did sell went quickly because the buyers left in the market are the ones who actually need to move.

Speed and volume are different things. September had speed and not much volume.

Inventory finished the month at 274 detached homes, down 19.6 percent year over year. There is not a lot to choose from.

What are Burlington home prices doing?

Detached held and then some. The median was $1,190,000, up 1.8 percent, and the average was $1,360,500, up 6.2 percent.

When the average rises faster than the median, the top of the market is participating again. More higher-priced homes changed hands in September than in August, pulling the average up.

One month is one month. But it's the opposite of what August showed, and worth watching.

On the townhouse and condo side, the median was $670,000, down 8.2 percent, with the average at $734,527, down 5.1 percent. Both directions, same story.

Does 96.6 percent of asking mean sellers got close to what they wanted?

No. That percentage is measured against the list price at the time of sale, not the original. A home that reduced twice and then sold still shows up close to asking.

Detached homes sold at 96.6 percent of asking in September, down from 97.2 percent a year ago.

So the seller who came out at the right number and sold near it, and the seller who came out high, reduced twice, and finally sold, land in roughly the same place in the data.

Their two experiences were not the same at all. One sold. The other spent three months learning what the market already knew.

Ninety-six point six percent of asking is real. It just doesn't say which asking.

Are buyers lowballing in Burlington?

Some are. Offers well under asking are showing up, and they either come up or the buyer walks.

Buyers are still looking for a deal, and a market that spent the summer slow makes that feel worth trying.

Most of the time it doesn't land. The offer comes in low, the seller holds, and the buyer either moves toward the number or moves on to the next house.

Worth knowing on both sides of the table. If you're selling, a low offer is an opening, not an insult, and it is not information about your home. If you're buying, it's a reasonable thing to try and a bad thing to be precious about.

What about interest rates?

Fixed rates have been announced to go up.

I noticed more activity under the million dollar mark through the back half of September. Whether that's buyers moving ahead of the change or a coincidence of timing, one month of data won't tell me, and I'd rather say that than dress a hunch up as a trend.

Ask me again after October.

What this means if you're selling in Burlington

If you're selling detached, the market is moving and it's moving quickly. There isn't much competition on the shelf, and the buyers out looking are not browsing.

Prepared still matters more than anything else. Priced against what has actually sold rather than what is sitting unsold nearby. Ready before it goes live rather than getting ready while buyers walk through. A launch with a plan behind it.

If you're selling a townhouse or a condo, the honest version is that it's going to take longer and the number has come down. Forty-two days is an average, which means plenty of homes take longer than that.

And if you're already listed and waiting, the waiting is not a verdict on your home.

What this means if you're buying in Burlington

On detached, be ready rather than thoughtful. There are 274 homes for sale in a city this size, the good ones go in days, and the time to work out your financing is before you see something you want.

On townhouses and condos, you have room. You can look twice. You can negotiate. You can walk away from something that's almost right.

That's a real shift and it's worth using.

This is what September looked like in Burlington and what October has felt like so far. The October numbers land in early November and I'll come back with those.

If you're weighing a move and you'd like to talk it through, the calendar is open. Fifteen minutes, no pressure, no commitment. Just a conversation about where you're at.

〰️ The Village
where we gather + grow

***All figures are for September 2026 from the Cornerstone Association of REALTORS Monthly Indicators report for the Burlington service area, current as of 2 October 2026.