The GTA logged its third straight month of year-over-year sales gains as inventory tightens
Greater Toronto Area home sales climbed 9.4% year over year in June 2026, with tightening inventory and improving affordability prompting the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) to forecast renewed price growth before year's end.
TRREB reported 6,770 homes sold through its MLS system in June, a result that also marked a 1.4% increase from May 2026 on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The average selling price fell 3.9% year over year to $1,058,658, while the MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark declined 5.4% over the same period, according to TRREB's June 2026 Market Watch report.
"We expect accelerating transactions and more competition between buyers in the last six months of the year, helping to satisfy pent-up demand and ultimately resulting in renewed price growth," said TRREB president Daniel Steinfeld.
The June figures extend a trend that emerged in the spring. Transaction volumes have now risen year over year for at least three consecutive months, even as sellers have pulled back sharply from the market.
New listings fell 12.9% year over year to 17,282, while total active inventory declined 13.5% to 27,329 units across the region.
Condo sales led all property types, rising 14.3% year over year. That's a notable improvement given that Toronto condo prices continued sliding through May 2026 despite rising transaction volumes.
Detached home sales gained 9.1%, townhouses rose 4.3%, and semi-detached transactions were up 3%.
Ann-Marie Lurie of the Calgary Real Estate Board said slowing migration is easing demand for resale homes, with apartment properties seeing the greatest pricing pressure across the market.https://t.co/PKjA5Kzy0q
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) July 3, 2026
Affordability improves, strains persist
A report published this week by RBC Economics found Canada's national housing affordability measure fell 1.4 percentage points to 53% in the first quarter of 2026, its best level in four years.
Toronto recorded among the steepest improvements of any market tracked, even as it remains Canada's second-least affordable city.
Toronto condo prices have retreated to near late-2019 levels, and for the first time in 16 years, condos in Toronto are now more affordable relative to local incomes than those in Montreal, according to the report authored by RBC assistant chief economist Robert Hogue and economist Rachel Battaglia.
Yet single-detached ownership costs remain severely strained, consuming more than 80% of a typical Toronto household's pre-tax income. RBC
TRREB chief information officer Jason Mercer said that if market conditions continue tightening in the second half of 2026, selling prices could move in line with 2025 levels and eventually post increases, an outcome that could encourage buyers currently watching from the sidelines of Canada's diverging housing markets and the broader national outlook to re-engage.
TRREB chief executive John DiMichele pointed to development charges as a structural barrier, noting they can account for up to 20% of a home's purchase price and contribute directly to elevated entry costs.
He said the Canada-Ontario Development Charge Reduction Program presents municipalities with a meaningful opportunity to reduce those fees while accessing provincial funding to offset fiscal impacts.
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