REPORT: Safe, Satisfied and Priced Out – Oakville’s Housing Contradiction

Oakville ON, April 23, 2026 — The Oakville, Milton and District Real Estate Board (OMDREB) is pleased to announce the results of a second comprehensive housing survey to gauge residents’ sentiments on the current and future landscape of real estate in the Halton Region. 

The survey, conducted by Nanos Research and commissioned by OMDREB, first in 2024 and again in April 2026, gathered additional insights from a diverse cross-section of Halton communities, focusing on housing affordability, the general direction of each community, the overall quality of life, the state of housing in the Region, and more.

Notable Key Findings

Life In The Region:

Residents from the Town of Milton (12%) are more likely to say the main reason they live there is because of affordability compared to those in the Town of Halton Hills (5%), the City of Burlington (4%) and the Town of Oakville (3%).

If they had one piece of advice to make the community a better place, residents from the City of Burlington (15%) are less likely to say they would ensure the City grows at a manageable rate/limit expansion/limit high density housing and building height.

Community Direction and Quality of Life:

Views on whether their community is moving in the right direction are consistent with results from 2024. Residents continue to be more likely to say their community is moving in the right direction (48%). On the other hand, there has been a marginal increase in those who are unsure about the direction of their community (18%, compared to 13% in 2024).

Scores related to views on the quality of life in Oakville, Milton, Halton Hills and Burlington remain strong (87% positive). Nearly nine of ten residents (88%) have positive views of the region as a place to live.

State of Housing:

Respondents still expressed concerns about housing affordability. Four in ten (43%) believe housing affordability has worsened, but those that say it has improved to one extent or another rose from 5 to 20 percent. Just under eight in ten residents (79%) say young people are less likely to afford a home compared to five years ago. As a whole, only 16% of residents believe homes in the region are affordable.

Housing Solutions:

Residents in the region believe the municipal government is doing a better job at creating more homes overall than at creating an environment to build affordable homes or controlling development charges for new homes.

Residents are divided on the best course of action to address housing affordability in the Halton Region including on building more multi-unit homes in existing neighbourhoods that mostly have single detached homes (50% support/somewhat support), relaxing urban design guidelines (46% support/somewhat support) and restricting the use of heritage designations that block or delay property development (46% support/ somewhat support).

“We are thrilled to share the results of our updated Nanos Research Housing survey, which provides additional valuable insights into the thoughts and feelings of our community members over the course of two years,” says Heidi Noël, President of OMDREB. “Understanding residents’ perspectives on housing affordability, community direction, and overall quality of life is crucial as we work towards creating a more sustainable housing spectrum for the Halton Region.”

“Overall, residents of the region score the quality of life in the region highly, feel safe and believe the region is a good place to raise a family. However, affordable housing and access to homeownership remains a challenge for most, particularly the youth.” says Nik Nanos, Chief Data Scientist at Nanos Research.

The full survey report is available here and at nanos.co. We encourage community members, policymakers, and stakeholders to review the findings and contribute to discussions on how to address the challenges and opportunities identified in the survey.

For more information, please contact John Rich, Manager, Communications and Public Affairs at communciations@omdreb.ca

ABOUT THE SURVEY

Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land-and cell-lines) random telephone survey of 1,274 residents in the Towns of Oakville, Milton, Halton Hills and the City of Burlington, 18 years of age or older, between March 26 to April 14, 2026.

Individuals were randomly called using random digit dialing with a maximum of five call backs.

The margin of error for this survey is ±2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.