Greater Toronto home sales tick lower in July as prices fall: real estate board

TORONTO — The Greater Toronto Area’s housing market cooled in July after a run of four straight months with year-over-year gains.

The region saw 5,995 homes change hands last month, down 0.9 per cent from July 2025, however sales rose 3.2 per cent from June on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says the average selling price decreased 4.5 per cent year-over-year to $1,003,956, and the composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, was down 4.6 per cent.

All housing types saw lower activity overall throughout the region last month, except for detached homes, which saw a 0.6 per cent uptick in year-over-year sales.

The largest drop in sales was for semi-detached homes, down 5.9 per cent, followed by a 2.7 per cent drop in townhouse sales. Condo activity had a slight decline of 0.1 per cent.

“Things are still a bit slow,” said Vy Ngo, a Toronto-based sales representative with Big City Realty Inc.

She said there seemed to be a bump for activity in June, when TRREB reported a year-over-year increase in sales of 9.4 per cent, before interest in the market calmed last month.

“In July, (it was) noticeably a lot slower. Just seasonality, more people taking time off, so they’re also taking a pause on real estate as well, especially people with kids.”

There were 14,484 new listings on the market in July, down 17.8 per cent from last year.

TRREB president Daniel Steinfeld said that with sales accounting for a larger share of listings, buyers “may find there is less room to negotiate moving forward.”

“If current trends continue, home prices could start to level off compared to last year,” he said in a news release.

“Many would-be homebuyers are waiting for confidence in the market and broader economy to improve before making a purchase. This includes more clarity on tariffs, inflation and borrowing costs.”

But Ngo said she believes it could be a quieter market into the fall, especially if the effects of the U.S.-Iran war continue to linger.

This week has brought renewed hopes that a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be getting closer. The strait’s closure has blocked oil exports while driving up global fuel prices and overall inflation, and it could take time for those effects to moderate.

“There’s a lot of economic uncertainty, so people are so uncertain with their jobs,” Ngo said.

“When you have lots of uncertainty, you don’t tend to make a big purchase.”

She added that upward inflation has driven fixed interest rates higher, leading to subdued demand for the housing market.

“Everything costs more,” she said.

Inventory fell 12.1 per cent last month, as there were 26,098 total active listings in the GTA.

Within the City of Toronto, TRREB said there were 2,242 sales last month, up 2.4 per cent from July 2025. Across the rest of the GTA, home sales were down 2.7 per cent to 3,753.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2026.

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press