Greater Toronto real estate was supposed to firm up this year, but the market continues to erode. Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) data shows sales slipped to print one of the worst Augusts on record. Prices also made a sharp drop as inventory climbed to rarely seen levels, as the region faces one of the weakest markets on record.
Greater Toronto Home Prices Made a Massive $15k Drop Last Month
The benchmark price of a typical home across Greater Toronto.
Source: CREA; TRREB; Better Dwelling.
Greater Toronto home prices slipped lower once again. The benchmark price of a home fell 1.4% (-$15,100) to $1,082,200 in August. Prices are now similar to October 2021, moving mostly sideways for the past few years.
Toronto Home Price Growth Has Been Negative For Nearly Two Years
The annual rate of change for a composite benchmark home across Greater Toronto.
Source: CREA; TRREB; Better Dwelling.
Annual growth improved due to a base effect, though prices are still very much in decline. The benchmark in August was 4.6% lower than last year, which seems like an improvement from the previous month. However, it’s just a base effect—prices fell a little less in August 2024 than last year. The longer prices are in decline, the lower they go.
Greater Toronto home prices are now 17.6% (-$231,600) lower than the record high reached in March 2022. While prices haven’t budged much in the past few years, they remain more than 23 points higher than pre-pandemic.
Toronto Home Sales Had The Worst August In 24 Years
Greater Toronto’s weakness is being driven by a total lack of demand at this price level. Sales fell 5.3% from last year to just 4,975 homes in August. It was the fewest sales in August since 2000, and it wasn’t just last month. Year to date, the total number of sales were the fewest since 2001, when the board was much smaller and there were a lot less people across the Greater Toronto region.
Toronto Inventory Climbs To Unusually Lofty Levels After Weak Sales
The downturn hasn’t slowed sellers from trying to exit the market. New listings for the month climbed 1.5% to 12,547 homes in August. The listing surplus helped push total active inventory higher for a fifth consecutive month to a whopping 22,653 homes for sale in August, up 46.2% from last year. That’s the highest level of active inventory in August going back at least 10 years.
Fewer sales and more new listings mean further erosion of the sales to new listings ratio (SNLR), a fundamental indicator the industry uses to determine the strength of demand. Greater Toronto had an SNLR of 39.7% in August. That makes it a buyer’s market according to the industry, which is a friendly way of saying prices are expected to fall if it persists.
Greater Toronto’s real estate industry has stated they believe demand will pick up next year. Though they also stated that last year. In the meantime, negative data has been piling up and demand for new homes has hit a record low.
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