Toronto Metro Home Prices Drop Below $1M

[Economy 52,895]

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/2026/02/04/average-gta-home-price-dropped-below-1m-last-month-with-more-weakness-ahead-trreb/

 

The housing market bubble deflation that began in early 2022 is now in its 4th year and the average Toronto Metro home selling price (including the suburbs) has now droped below $1M to $973,000 or (under $730,000 USD)

 

Tho housing prices continue to fall, sales remain at multi decade lows and buyers remain on sidelines as affordability remains bad and fomo buying has ended. Condos in particular are so bad, that sales are lower than in the 1990s housing crash when the population was a lot lower and far fewer condos existed

 

Despite this, there is no massive wave of defaults so far or financial instability like the 2008 US Housing Crisis.

 

The bursted bubble is mainly concentrated in Toronto and Vancouver Metros so far with the rest of the Country doing fine, providing a stabalizing effect to banks and the financial system

 

Additionally the stricter downpayment rules and stress tests vs the US means fewer people are missing payments despite rising interest rates on renewals, and fewer people are underwater since more people placed a bigger downpayment than in the US

 

Still, there is strain for the specific segments of the population that bought right at the peak of the market and put the lowest downpayments allowed, those people may he under water and face strain especially if their mortgages are now being renewed at a higher rates. If they can no longer afford their new payments and need to sell, many may find they cannot fully pay the mortgage and still owe the bank a balance if you sell. In Canada you cannot simply walk away from an under water mortgage, the debt must be honoured unless you declare bankruptcy

Edited February 4 by Economy
Typo

[PartySick 172,972]

Phbt. Congratulations?  

Still literally unattainable for normal people, no?

[Economy 52,895]

52 minutes ago, PartySick said:

Phbt. Congratulations?  

Still literally unattainable for normal people, no?

100%

 

Theres basically only 3 possible ways to get into housing market:

 

#1. Earn considerably above the average. For context the average household income in Toronto is $121,000. My wife and I are near this average and we only qualified for a mortgage just under $500K excluding downpayment

 

#2. Have huge downpayment (often with family help). This was my wife and I case. We both had savings but her parents filled the gap. Only a condo would have been possible otherwise on our own without help and not a big one

 

#3 inherit it when ur parents die

 

Prices have fallen enough now that the average person might be able to buy a small condo (500sq feet or less) without any of the 3 advantages above but these small condos are not very livable or ideal even for a couple with no kids. But thats basically the one segment of the market that has finally reached some level of affordability. So prices need to fall more

 

And as a non selfish home owner. Im perfectly ok with prices falling a bit further. Tho i admit if they fell very severely id still be cheesed I payed that much before the crash. 

Edited February 4 by Economy

[Murakami27 8,575]

Time for me to buy my first home…with my parents paying for it 

[RAMROD 117,252]

It started to crack??

I blame real estate companies, airbnb, vrbo, and stufss like that for this housing crisis

Edited February 4 by RAMROD

[Economy 52,895]

11 minutes ago, RAMROD said:

It started to crack??

I blame real estate companies, airbnb, vrbo, and stufss like that for this housing crisis

I agree mostly. They have added to big money in housing

 

But i also blame culture. Ordinairy people are also obsessed with the idea of home values appreciating and homes are generally seen as investments by many as much as a place to live. Even when ppl do fancy renos, i hear comments about the impact on value of the home as much as I hear about the fact that the renos were actually needed or look nice etc

 

This culture contributes to the general finalization of housing and this obsession didnt exist 50 years ago. We cant blame only Air BNB or property companies. They are still a small fraction of overall stock. The general attittude towards housing contributes to this

 

Some sellers who want to move refuse to sell because their minds are still stuck on prices from 4 years ago even if they bought 20 years ago and still would make profit contributing to this buyer/seller stale mate keeping sales low despite high inventory and allowing prices to drop slowly rather than a sharper drop youd expect. Sellers are being stubborn. Its ordinairy people doing this too, because the profit motive is to get every last dollar possible

 

Edited February 4 by Economy