Sellers Or Buyers Market In Toronto? Balanced - Until You Take A Deeper Dive…

Averages can be deceiving, especially when talking about Real Estate. And this includes Toronto’s averages. As our housing stock consists of predominantly condos, town’s, detached, and semi’s. And although the numbers indicate the GTA’s real estate market is balanced at the moment, that conclusion is drawn by looking only at the market as a whole. The GTA in its entirety.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s happening in Toronto.

Semi’s are deep into a Seller’s market at the moment. First time homebuyers are attracted to the 1M to 1.5M price point to get into Toronto’s semi-detached housing market, despite the current interest rates. First time homebuyers in this category in Toronto are driving up the real estate in this segment. Almost 60% of semi’s are going over the list price, and there is less than one month of inventory for semi’s on the market at the moment. This has also caused semi’s to increase in price month over month by 10%.

Detached homes appear to be balanced in Toronto at the moment. Only 42% of detached are selling over the list price in multiple offers. And only half of the new listings coming to market are selling overall. We have about a month and a half of inventory sitting on the market and available for purchase at the moment. Based on our metrics we are sitting in a balanced market for detached homes.

Townhomes, this includes condo town’s and freehold town’s appear to be a bit cooler. Similar to the detached homes, 39% are selling over asking and 45% of new listings are selling on the market. And there is about 2.35 months of inventory available, which appears to be more of a buyers market in this segment at the moment. We may have to break this down a little bit further. Condo town’s may sell similar to condo’s overall. And freehold town’s may share more similarities with semi’s. Also with this housing type, neighbourhood matters. A freehold townhome in Roncesvales would be in high demand right now. Or even Leslieville. And would likely share the same metrics as a semi detached home.

Condo’s are cold. Cold cold cold. Not to scare anyone off, as there is always opportunity. However, it is important to understand the metrics of the market you are buying or selling in. Every condo metric at the moment indicates a buyers market. 20% of condo’s are selling over asking, and only 40% are selling overall. Months of inventory are sitting at 3.5 months. Important to note that this is down from its slow peak of 5.5 months back in October 2023. Condo prices have remained stagnant and have not fallen.

We watch the 905 closely, as we noticed that trends in the 905 are a leading indicator of where the 416 is headed. We have noticed that if the 905 starts to take-off or decline, Toronto isn’t far behind it. We have noticed that the 905 is starting to pick up. In terms of the actual data, it still indicates that the 905 is in a balanced market. Durham has taken off and is in a Seller’s market, unlike everywhere else which is balanced. It is interesting to note and we will be watching market trends and activity closely in March.

March numbers will be telling and may indicate the market direction. Based on our current activity we think we are headed upward in inventory and prices. Let’s see what happens.

Stay tuned,