Toronto home sales stronger than last spring as buyers benefit from ‘substantial negotiating power’
TRREB data show home sales climbed 6% year over year amid dip in prices
By Serah Louis
Published June 03, 2026
Toronto home sales rose in May compared to a year ago as buyers benefited from lower prices and borrowing costs, according to the latest market report from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), released Wednesday.
Seasonally adjusted data showed home sales in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) climbed 10 per cent to 6,583 in May compared to April and were up 6.3 per cent year over year.
Although new listings plunged nearly 19 per cent compared to last year to 17,698, TRREB said buyers still had the upper hand.
“Inventory levels trended lower over the past year, but buyers continued to have substantial negotiating power through the spring, helping with affordability,” said TRREB chief information officer Jason Mercer in the report. “Looking ahead, if sales strengthen further relative to listings, selling prices will level off and even start to grow as we move into 2027.”
Jessica Hammell, a Toronto-based real estate broker at Real Broker Ontario Ltd. said many of the sellers she has seen have an “impetus” for listing their homes, whether that is downsizing, combining households, a divorce or financial duress. The average number of days on the market rose eight per cent year over year, from 25 in May 2025 to 27 in May 2026, according to TRREB. The MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark declined 6.7 per cent year over year, while the average selling price fell 4.6 per cent to $1,069,700. Hammell said improved borrowing costs, buyer confidence and the weather have brought buyers out of the woodwork. “There’s a big herd mentality with these things, so … (when) it seems like things are improving, that can give confidence to people who have been on the sidelines,” she said. However, buyers’ enthusiasm is “tempered” as they take their time during the homebuying process instead of making an offer on the first property they see, she said.
Hammell added that while some buyers have more negotiating power for certain properties, this isn’t the case across the board, especially for well-priced listings in desirable neighbourhoods. For example, while the ongoing glut of condo inventory has presented buyers with more choice, the single detached home with parking remains “the gold standard” and garners more demand in Toronto, she said. Condo and townhouse prices plunged 6.4 per cent and 7.1 per cent year over year, respectively, to $639,468 and $840,608 on average, according to TRREB. Sales of these property types picked up by more than four per cent compared to last year, though sales of detached homes increased the most, up nine per cent.
Shawn Zigelstein, a broker based in Richmond Hill, Ont., with Team Zold, part of Royal LePage Signature, said he is seeing some “disconnect” in the marketplace. Fewer homeowners than usual are moving up to bigger property types, such as condo owners moving to a townhouse or semi-detached home, he said.
“What we’re really waiting to happen is for this domino effect to take place,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of first-time homebuyers.”
TRREB president Daniel Steinfeld anticipates sales will grow further in the second half of the year. “Recovery would be further bolstered by positive news on the trade front along with an easing of geopolitical tensions and related uncertainty,” he said in the report.
But Zigelstein said Royal LePage is forecasting a mostly flat market, with prices potentially dropping a couple of percentage points over the summer.
“June should be a solid month,” he said. “I think July and August will go back to your typical seasonal market and come down a little bit.”
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