DirectOffers
The average GTA home that sold in August 2026 had been listed for 35 days. A year earlier it was 33. The average price was $993,410, down 2.7 per cent from August 2025, and nearly two in three condo apartments sold for under $600,000.
Those are the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board’s numbers, released September 3. None of them is dramatic on its own. Together they describe a market where a buyer has time to think, and time is the thing that lets you write conditions into an offer instead of waiving them to win.
What the August numbers say
TRREB reported 5,057 sales across the GTA in August, down 2.1 per cent from a year earlier. New listings fell harder: 12,075, down 14.1 per cent. The MLS Home Price Index, which tracks a typical home rather than the average sale, was down 4.5 per cent year over year and flat against July.
By home type, the average prices were:
- Detached: $1,288,669, down 1.8 per cent. In the City of Toronto, $1,525,749.
- Semi-detached: $931,665, down 5.0 per cent.
- Townhouse: $786,817, down 8.6 per cent.
- Condo apartment: $617,593, down 3.6 per cent. Toronto condos averaged $651,648; condos in the 905 averaged $549,868, down 7.6 per cent.
Of the 1,330 condo apartments that sold, 862 went for under $600,000. Detached homes were 47 per cent of all sales.
TRREB’s president, Daniel Steinfeld, put the buyer’s dilemma plainly: “If inventory tightens and home prices begin to rise, some buyers may face a trade-off between waiting for greater economic certainty and purchasing before prices move higher.” Its chief information officer, Jason Mercer, named the hold-back: “concerns around trade with the United States and the potential for higher inflation and borrowing costs in the future.”
What the Bank of Canada did, and didn’t, do
On September 2 the Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.25 per cent. Inflation has been “hovering around 3% in recent months, mainly because of persistently higher gasoline prices,” while the core measures the Bank watches stayed close to 2 per cent. The economy grew 3.3 per cent in the second quarter and unemployment edged down to 6.4 per cent in July. The Bank also noted that new US tariffs and Canadian counter-measures followed the breakdown of trade talks.
Its guidance was one sentence: it “is prepared to adjust monetary policy as needed.” The next decision is October 28.
For a buyer, a hold means variable-rate mortgages did not move. Fixed rates are priced off bond yields, not the policy rate, and can move on their own. If you have a pre-approval with a rate hold, know its expiry date. If you do not have a pre-approval, get one before you write an offer; a financing condition protects you, but a pre-approval tells you what you can afford to offer in the first place.
How buyers are actually paying for homes
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2026 Mortgage Consumer Survey, taken in January among more than 4,100 recent buyers and renewers, fills in the rest of the picture. Recent buyers took an average of 4.4 years to save a down payment. Twenty-three per cent received a financial gift, with a median of $30,000, and 26 per cent said they could not have bought a home that met their needs without it. Thirty-nine per cent of mortgage holders were worried about making their payments, down from 53 per cent a year earlier. People who renewed reported payments up an average of $375 a month.
If a gift is part of your down payment, your lender will want a gift letter and will want to see the funds land before closing. Sort that out before the offer, not after acceptance.
What 35 days buys you
In a market where a home sells the first weekend, sellers can insist on offers with no conditions, and buyers who want the home go along. At 35 days on market the seller’s leverage is weaker. Here is what that lets you put in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, the standard Ontario contract for buying a resale home.
A financing condition. The offer becomes firm only if your lender approves the mortgage on this specific property within a set number of days. Without it, you are on the hook for the purchase whether or not the money comes through. The lender’s approval of you is not the same as approval of the home; the appraisal can come in below your price.
A home inspection condition. A few hundred dollars for an inspector to look at the roof, foundation, wiring and plumbing, and the right to walk away or renegotiate if something serious turns up. Skipping the inspection was the price of winning when homes sold in a weekend. You do not have to pay it now.
A status certificate review, if it is a condo. The status certificate is the condo corporation’s file on the unit: its finances, reserve fund, any lawsuits and any special assessments coming. Your lawyer reads it; the condition gives them the days to do so.
A reasonable irrevocable. The irrevocable date and time is how long your offer stays open for the seller to accept. A short irrevocable pressures the seller; a long one gives them time to shop your offer around. In a slower market there is no reason to hand a seller three days, and no need to give them thirty minutes either. A day is normal.
A deposit you can fund. On the standard form, a deposit payable “upon acceptance” is due within 24 hours of the seller accepting. There is no legal minimum, and what is customary varies by price range and neighbourhood. Ask what sellers in that area expect, and make sure the money is in an account you can draft from tomorrow. A deposit that bounces is a deal that dies.
What not to do
Do not read “prices down 2.7 per cent” as “lowball everything.” New listings were down 14 per cent; in some neighbourhoods there is less to choose from than a year ago, and TRREB’s own release says less choice could turn into renewed price growth. Look at the recent sold prices for the specific street and building, then decide.
Do not waive a condition to compete unless you have already done the work the condition would protect. If your lender has approved the property and you have read the inspection report, waiving is a decision. Waiving on a house you saw for twenty minutes is a gamble.
Do not confuse the average price with your price. The $993,410 average is pulled up by detached homes. A first condo in the 905 is a $550,000 conversation.
Writing it yourself
Every condition above is a clause on an OREA form, the standard set of forms every Ontario resale offer is written on. That is what DirectOffers does: you pick the listing, answer the questions about price, deposit, closing date and conditions, and the forms are filled. A licensed agent reviews the offer before it goes to the listing agent, and you keep up to 80 per cent of the buyer-agent commission at closing. On a $620,000 condo with a 2.5 per cent buyer-side commission, that is up to $12,400 back.
The market has handed buyers a few weeks of breathing room. Use them on the conditions.
