What to know
- Toronto home sales rose 9.4 per cent year-over-year in June, while new listings fell 12.9 per cent, signalling that the market is beginning to tighten after two slower years.
- A Toronto realtor says lower home prices, stable interest rates and improving consumer confidence are encouraging buyers who had been waiting on the sidelines to re-enter the market.
- Despite the shift, buyers still have strong negotiating power because inventory remains relatively high, although well-priced and desirable homes are selling more quickly.
- The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board expects competition among buyers to increase through the second half of 2026, which could eventually lead to renewed price growth.
- Sellers may benefit from reduced competition, but an expert warns that pricing homes realistically remains crucial, as overpriced properties are still likely to sit on the market.
After a slow 2025, real-estate sales are beginning to pick up, but one Toronto-based realtor says first-time homebuyers still have an opportunity to move fast for a cheaper price.
The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB)’s June market report is in, revealing a 9.4 per cent increase in sales compared to last year at this time. The numbers also represent an increase from the first quarter of 2026, which marked a slower improvement from the previous year.
Meanwhile, new listings have decreased by 12.9 per cent year-over-year, with only 17,282 new properties listed in June, which indicates the market is getting tighter.
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Now Toronto spoke with Toronto-based realtor Will Doyle to find out what this tighter market conditions means for upcoming buyers, and how they can take advantage of this moment.
What could be driving sales up?
Rather than one specific reason, Doyle explained that a combination of factors could be driving sales up in the first half of the year.
As pointed out by the realtor, sales have been extremely low for the past two years, after the real-estate market in Toronto reached its peak in 2022. With a decrease in sales, prices have also been dropping since then, as many buyers stayed on the sidelines waiting for more economic certainty.
“[In] 2024 [and] 2025 there’s a lot of uncertainty, we went through the tariffs, and this war in Iran that’s happening. Uncertainty really puts brakes on buyers actually buying properties, making big financial decisions,” Doyle explained.
Now that prices are down, the realtor said many buyers have decided to move from the sidelines and take advantage of the cheaper costs. Meanwhile, confidence in the Canadian economy has been restored, with the Bank of Canada’s interest rates announcements being held stable.
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As a result, more buyers are now making their move into the market, bringing overall sales up in June.
What does it mean for listings to be decreasing?
According to Doyle, historically, sales tend to reach their peak during spring, decreasing midway through the summer, and picking back up during fall. But this year, sales have been picking up since January.
At the same time, new listings have been declining.
Over the past couple of years, active listings have been building up in the market. While new listings increased, many sales were low, making it so that supply was much larger than demand in the market.
Right now, this trend is beginning to reverse where the number of sales is increasing and new listings are decreasing. However, as emphasized by Doyle, this isn’t expected to make a huge difference right away, as sales are still relatively low and the number of available listings is still high. The shift just means that the market is starting to tighten.
Will prices go up?
Under the current conditions, TRREB President Daniel Steinfeld stated that the board expects prices to start picking up.
“We expect accelerating transactions and more competition between buyers in the last six months of the year, helping to satisfy pent-up demand and ultimately resulting in renewed price growth,” he said in the newly-published report.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean buyers are about to face steeper prices so soon.
Doyle explains that he has seen stagnant prices in Toronto throughout the first quarter of the year, even as sales start to pick up. For there to be a significant growth in prices, the realtor said tighter conditions would have to continue for longer.
“The average price statistic is really a lagging indicator. We need to continue to see a growth in sales and a decrease in listings for us to see any meaningful increase in prices,” he said.
Although it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when that might happen, the realtor said he expects prices to start increasing again next spring.
“We still have a ways to go. Condos have improved the most in terms of number of sales last month, but there’s still a ton of condo listings, and they are nowhere near real price appreciation from now,” he added.
Is now a good time to buy?
Despite the slight shift, Doyle said conditions are still favourable for buyers, who still have a lot of room to negotiate, as there are many options in the market.
“The tricky part now is there’s not a lot of good listings,” he explained. “With the market the way it is, buyers tend to be more picky. So, the good listings tend to sell fairly quickly and for a good price, but for the listings that don’t have the best layout or are not in the best condition, those are the ones that are sitting on the market.”
For those that are prepared to buy, Doyle recommends making a move in the next six months, so they can take advantage of current conditions.
Is now a good time to sell?
The increase in sales and decrease in new listings throughout June represents good news for sellers, as there’s less competition in the market.
However, Doyle advises that keeping prices realistic to today’s market is essential to making sure their properties are attractive to potential buyers.
“Overpricing a listing now is almost a death sentence for the listing. It will sit on the market and do a disservice to the property if you’re pricing it too high, and you also have to make sure that you’re doing everything that you can to present the market and position it properly,” he added.
