Resale market: sales rise, prices fall
- Toronto resale sales rose 1.7% year-over-year in March, the first gain since September 2025. - Average resale price fell 6.7% to $1,017,796, indicating continued price pressure. - The mix of returning buyers and lower averages suggests negotiation leverage is increasing for purchasers. (x.com)
Toronto home resales finally rose in March, but prices kept sliding. The Greater Toronto Area logged its first year-over-year sales gain since September 2025 while the average selling price fell to just over C$1 million. (trreb.ca) The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said 5,039 homes sold through its Multiple Listing Service system in March 2026, up 1.7% from March 2025. New listings fell much faster, dropping 16.7% to 14,442. (trreb.ca) The average selling price was C$1,017,796, down 6.7% from a year earlier, and the board’s benchmark price index fell 7.4%. On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices were mostly flat from February, with the average price edging up and the benchmark edging down. (trreb.ca) That combination points to a market with more activity but not much pricing power for sellers. TRREB Chief Information Officer Jason Mercer said buyers still had “substantial negotiating power on price across major market segments” in March. (trreb.ca) TRREB President Daniel Steinfeld said lower prices were helping affordability as the spring market began, and he tied buyer caution to trade and geopolitical news. The board said better consumer confidence could lift sales further in the months ahead. (trreb.ca) Borrowing costs also help explain the shift. The Bank of Canada has kept its target for the overnight rate at 2.25%, and the major banks’ typical prime rate was 4.45% in mid-April, leaving mortgage costs below their 2024 highs even as financing stayed expensive by pre-pandemic standards. (bankofcanada.ca 1) (bankofcanada.ca 2) The board also flagged a different problem beyond this spring’s softer prices: too little new housing in the pipeline. Chief Executive Officer John DiMichele said recent federal and Ontario moves on harmonized sales tax and development-charge relief were meant to spur construction, especially “missing middle” homes between condos and detached houses. (trreb.ca) For now, March looks less like a rebound in prices than a return of buyers who see better terms. Sales are rising again in Toronto, but the numbers still show purchasers — not sellers — setting the tone. (trreb.ca)
