Lower prices and steady rates revived demand even as inventory shrank
Greater Toronto’s resale market tightened in March 2026, with buyers stepping back in to help sales improve for the first time in half a year as prices slipped and borrowing costs held steady.
The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) reported 5,039 sales, up 1.7% from a year earlier. New listings fell 16.7% to 14,442 compared with March 2025.
Average prices dropped 6.7% year over year to $1,017,796, and the MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark declined 7.4%.
That shift came against a national backdrop of easing inflation and a Bank of Canada policy rate that remained at 2.25% on March 18, helping to cap mortgage costs heading into the key spring season.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, both sales and listings edged higher from February, with transactions rising slightly faster than new supply.
Detached segment sees improvement
TRREB’s detailed tables showed that detached homebuying continued to dominate activity.
In the City of Toronto, detached homes recorded several hundred sales at an average price well above $1.6 million.
The city's condo space, though, is continuing to struggle. Condo apartments saw more than 2,000 transactions at an average price under the $800,000 mark, but prices are still plunging.
In the 905 belt, detached homes also led the market by dollar volume, with average prices in the low‑$1.3 million range, while condo apartments traded at roughly half that level.
Townhouses and semi‑detached homes filled in the “missing middle” but accounted for a smaller share of sales.
Average prices for those segments typically fell between condo and detached levels, underscoring the wide gap that policymakers sought to narrow through gentle‑density forms of housing.
“It’s encouraging to see an uptick in March home sales compared to last month and last year,” TRREB president Daniel Steinfeld said.
“This suggests that an increasing number of GTA households are looking to take advantage of improved affordability as we move into the spring market. Positive news on trade and geopolitical issues would help improve consumer confidence and home sales in the months ahead.”
TRREB chief information officer Jason Mercer said buyers still held the upper hand.
“Buyers continued to benefit from substantial negotiating power on price across major market segments in the last month. This explains why benchmark and average selling prices were down year-over-year. However, if market conditions continue to tighten, as they did in March, selling prices could start levelling off as we move through the remainder of 2026,” he said.
Rate relief met shrinking listings
The March numbers followed two years of rate cuts that pulled the policy rate down from its 5% peak, easing pressure on variable-rate borrowers and helping five‑year fixed pricing retreat from 2023 highs.
GTA developer Ladan Hosseinzadeh Sadeghi described a market that had begun to stabilize.
“What we’re seeing this spring is a market that has found its floor,” Hosseinzadeh Sadeghi previously said.
“There’s pent‑up demand that built for two years. As rates stabilize, buyers who were waiting – and there are a lot of them – are re‑entering. The question for developers and sellers alike is whether supply can respond fast enough.”
Those supply worries are not confined to the resale side. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimated the country needs roughly 3.5 million additional homes by 2030, on top of current construction pipelines, to restore affordability.
Pipeline risks and missing middle gap
TRREB chief executive John DiMichele said the region faces a medium‑to‑long‑term risk if new construction fails to keep pace.
“The GTA housing supply pipeline is in danger of running dry in the medium-to-long term,” DiMichele said.
“The federal and provincial governments announcements on HST and development charge relief were important affordability policy initiatives designed to spur new home sales and construction. It will be important to ensure that the right types of homes are built, namely ‘missing middle’ home types bridging the gap between condos and traditional single-family homes.”
Earlier TRREB‑backed polling across the GTA shows how residents focused on those issues. In Vaughan, 83% of respondents supported cutting development charges on new homes.
Meanwhile, more than 80% across several municipalities said local governments were not doing enough to improve affordability.
“These numbers show that Vaughan residents are ready for bold action on housing affordability,” Steinfeld said at the time.
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