Toronto-Area Builder Offers Price-Drop Protection to Reignite Homebuyer Demand
A major Canadian developer is offering buyers of preconstruction homes a sweet deal in an ailing market — buy a home today and get a full refund of the price difference if the property value drops before close.
The new offering from Mattamy Homes is available for a limited time for condos and freehold homes and is applicable to all eligible buyers in select communities in Ontario and Alberta.
“It’s designed to give buyers confidence because right now we know it’s an uncertain market,” Sepideh Morshedizadeh, vice-president corporate marketing at Mattamy Homes, told the Star.
The ”New Home Price Protection” plan is meant to shield buyers from potential price drops after the property is bought and to provide certainty for end-users looking to purchase a new home, she said.
Thousands of preconstruction homes in Ontario, and especially in the GTA, have seen significant declines in home values since the 2022 peak while interest rates skyrocketed, resulting in buyers failing to close on their homes. In 2025, new home sales reached their lowest level in 45 years.
The move is a “brilliant marketing effort” to entice buyers in a market that’s seen record-low sales, experts told the Star, and is an offering that hasn’t been seen in the market yet.
It could also indicate that Mattamy Homes sees the preconstruction market reaching its bottom, with prices unlikely to drop much further, one expert added.
How it works
The home price protection program is “straightforward,” Morshedizadeh said, and the price comparison is done with home types that are “apples to apples.”
When a preconstruction buyer purchases a property from Mattamy Homes, if the price for the same model of property in the same community drops before closing, the buyer will get a refund for the difference, with no limit on the refund.
For example, if someone agrees to purchase a home for $700,000, when the purchaser approaches the closing date, Mattamy Homes will see what the exact model in the same community is currently advertised for and if it’s price is lower, the buyer is refunded the difference. This price comparison is done 30 days before close.
“So at closing, that refund would be applied to the price of their house,” Morshedizadeh said.
Mattamy Homes keeps a price list with active listings that is constantly updated providing up-to-date pricing for its properties at all times, she said.
The program period runs from Jan. 24 to March 8, and is applicable to communities in Toronto (Westbend Residences, close to High Park), Markham, Milton, Brampton, Mississauga, Oakville, Pickering, Guelph, Innisfil and Kitchener, she added
‘It will drive a lot of sales’
Since the program went live, Morshedizadeh said there’s been “really strong interest” from prospective buyers with increased foot traffic across Mattamy Homes’ sales offices.
“Customers are now shifting the conversation from being worried about ‘where are home prices going?’ and ‘is this the right time to buy?’ to finding the right home that fits their lifestyle and budget,” she said.
“Because now they’re assured they don’t need to worry from now until close.”
Jonathan Zadegan, managing partner at the Zadegan Group, said it’s a “really good incentive” and one he hasn’t seen in the market.
“It will drive a lot of sales for them,” he said.
The only other main incentive Zadegan has seen in the market are blanket appraisals — when a lender uses the value of a preconstruction property at the time a buyer entered a purchase agreement rather than the updated value at the time the property closes. This means the buyer can get a mortgage to close on the unit, but it is worth more than the value of the home, putting them underwater. It’s a tactic experts have warned hurts buyers as they have no equity in their property.
Historically, Mattamy Homes has been a big driver in development for freehold properties, lending itself to more end-user product. It’s allowed them to better shield themselves from the investor drought that has, in part, caused the condo crash in the GTA, said Toronto-based real estate lawyer Mark Morris.
Only big developers with enough capital can offer programs like this, Morris said, and condo-only developers aren’t able to offer this type of plan.
“A condo builder would never be able to issue this because there’s five years worth of time from start to finish,” he said, adding that a freehold home takes up to one year to build, leading to a less drastic price difference by close.
“Mattamy has realized that there’s huge uncertainty that exists in the market and this (incentive) quells that uncertainty,” Morris said.
“But more importantly, extending the offer at this time means that it’s their internalized belief that we are approaching perhaps something close to the bottom of the cycle. If I was in 2022, I would not be issuing this particular policy.”
Morshedizadeh said it’s “too hard to speculate on the market” and that Mattamy Homes builds and sells homes for end-users, with the goal to offer “assurance that they don’t have to worry about this aspect of the market right now.”
This article was first reported by The Star
