The Toronto housing market is seeing a decline in activity that is "quickly becoming one of the deepest of the past half a century". This decline can be attributed to soaring interest rates, higher borrowing costs, and reduced purchasing budgets for home hunters. Home sales in Toronto have fallen to its slowest pace in 13 years, if we exclude the April 2020 lockdown.
The frenzy that took Toronto's housing market to an unprecedented height this winter is completely gone, according to RBC Economists. Since March, the MLS Home Price Index has dropped $178,000, falling to $1.16 million. In July alone, prices declined almost 4 per cent, or $47,000. Inventories, however, have been steadily climbing, up 58 per cent since 2021.
Canada's least affordable housing markets Vancouver and Toronto are most at risk because of their excessively stretched affordability and price gains. It is said the downturn is expected to intensify and spread further as many buyers in Toronto will take a wait-and-see approach. The RBC expert expects that home buyers in the GTA will find better deals in the outskirts of Toronto.
