We show our work.
Every number on Hously has a documented source, an update cadence, and a margin of error. If we can’t trace it, we don’t publish it.
All data sources
| Source | Provides | Update frequency | License | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
CREA DDF Canadian Real Estate Association | Active listings, photos, descriptions | Every 15 minutes | DDF Member Agreement | Live |
TRREB Toronto Regional Real Estate Board | Sold history for GTA, days-on-market | Nightly + weekly summary | TRREB IDX agreement | Nightly |
MPAC Municipal Property Assessment Corp · Ontario | Assessed value, lot dimensions, year built | Annually (Jan) | Public, attributed | Annual |
BC Assessment Provincial Crown corp | Assessed value, property class, prior sale | Annually (Jul + Jan) | Open data licence | Annual |
Walk Score Redfin subsidiary | Walk, Transit, Bike scores | Quarterly | API partner | Quarterly |
Statistics Canada Census 2021, FSA-level | Population, age, income, education | Every 5 years | Open Government Licence | Census |
OSFI Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions | Mortgage stress-test rate (Guideline B-20) | As-published | Public | Current |
CMHC Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation | Default insurance premium tiers | As-published | Public | Current |
Bank of Canada Central bank | Overnight rate, bond yields, currency | Daily | Open data | Daily |
Lender rate sheets Big 6, monolines, credit unions | Posted & discounted mortgage rates | Daily (B6) + ad-hoc | Direct partnership | Daily |
Provincial land registries Teranet (ON), LTSA (BC), and others | Closed transaction verification | 7–14 day lag | Paid subscription | Weekly |
Estimates and ranges
Our automated valuation model (AVM) blends a gradient-boosted comparable-sales model with hedonic-pricing adjustments for unit-level features. Backtested on 12-month holdout: median absolute error 5.8%, 90th-percentile error 12.4%. We publish the range, not a single point.
Whenever an estimate is shown, you’ll see the source method nearby (e.g. "AVM ±5.8%" or "Comparable sales · 6 properties").
Comparable-sale selection
For each listing we filter to closed sales within (a) 800m, (b) 90 days, (c) ±15% sqft, (d) same property type. Median of the top 6 most similar comps is shown. Outliers more than 2σ from the median are excluded.
You can review and override our comp set on every listing detail page.
Market temperature
An FSA is flagged "HOT" when ≥ 105% sold-above-ask AND median DOM < 14 days; "COOL" when ≤ 98% sold-above-ask AND median DOM > 30 days; "WARM" / "BALANCED" otherwise. Computed weekly from a trailing-90-day window. Minimum n=20 closed sales required to label.
What we don’t claim
- • We don’t replace a Comparative Market Analysis from a licensed REALTOR®.
- • We don’t substitute for a home inspection.
- • We don’t guarantee a future sale price or appraisal.
- • We don’t speculate on what an FSA "will be worth" — we publish what it is worth, today, with sources.
Spotted a discrepancy? Send us the listing URL and the source you’re comparing against at data@hously.ca. We respond within 48 hours.