Toronto real estate is seeing slow signs of improvement—very slow signs. Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) data shows sales climbed in June, while inventory slipped. Despite the firmer market, prices moved lower as the region still saw one of the weakest Junes on record.
Toronto Real Estate Prices Resume Declines After Climbing 4 Months
The price of a typical home across Greater Toronto.
Source: TRREB; CREA; Better Dwelling.
The price of a typical home slipped 0.6% (-$5.7k) to $940,800 in June, 5.4% (-$53.8k) lower than last year and 26.5% (-$339k) below peak. It follows 4 months of rising prices, erasing the gains from 3 of those months. Summer homebuyers haven’t seen June prices this low since June 2020.
Toronto Real Estate Sales Climb, But Still Historically Weak
Greater Toronto existing home sales, June.
Source: TRREB; CREA; Better Dwelling.
Existing home sales across Greater Toronto inched higher to 6,770 units in June, 8.4% higher than last year. It was the biggest June in 3 years, but that’s only a minor win considering recent Junes have been among the weakest on record. For context, it was still 23.6% below June 2019, which was also considered a weak month at the time. Sales are moving in the right direction, but they’re nowhere near a level that can be considered normal.
Toronto Real Estate Sees Fewer New Sellers, Volumes Remain High
Fewer new sellers showed up last month, helping to tighten inventory. There were 17,280 new listings in June, down 12.9% (-2.56k) from last year. However, a 3-year low is only relatively weak, as there were still more new listings than typical—9.2% higher than the 15,816 new listings reported in June 2019.
The demand balance remains firmly in a buyer’s market, according to the industry’s standard sales-to-new-listings ratio (SNLR). The ratio came in at 36.5% for June, 5 points higher than last year but still well below the 40% threshold for a “balanced” market read. For a real estate-obsessed market like Toronto, this is unusually weak—only 5 years in the past 40 have been weaker.
Toronto Real Estate Inventory Pulls Back, 2nd Highest June In Over 30 Years
Greater Toronto active listings of homes for sale, June.
Source: TRREB; Better Dwelling.
Better sales and fewer sellers helped reduce total inventory. There were 27,330 active listings in June, 13.5% below last year’s record high. That’s a sharp drop, but active listings are still the 2nd most in June for at least the past 30 years. Only last year’s monster numbers trump these volumes.
Overall, the market made a few steps forward—sales moved higher, and inventory tightened. That’s a move in the right direction, but the positive momentum is relatively minor in contrast to where the market currently sits. While further improvements are certainly welcome, the state of Toronto real estate remains among the weakest the region’s seen.
