Toronto Home Sales Up, Prices Continue to Fall

News| May 21, 2026| Monte Stewart

Greater Toronto Area home sales rose year-over-year in April while the number of new listings declined, pointing to tighter market conditions during the first full month of spring.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) said 5,946 homes were sold through its MLS System in April, up 7% from the same month in 2025. New listings totalled 17,097, down 9.3% year-over-year.

“We have experienced an uptick in home buying activity so far this spring,” said TRREB President Daniel Steinfeld. “Buyers have taken advantage of more affordable housing market conditions on the back of lower home prices. If market conditions continue to tighten and home prices level off, this could be a signal to intending homebuyers who remain on the sidelines.”

The board said sales and new listings both increased on a seasonally adjusted basis compared with March 2026, with sales rising at a faster pace than listings, suggesting greater competition among buyers in some neighbourhoods.

Despite the tightening market, prices continued to decline from a year earlier. The MLS Home Price Index Composite benchmark fell 6.6% year-over-year in April, while the average selling price dropped 4.9% to $1,051,969.

“Lower home prices and borrowing costs over the past year have been a catalyst for some homebuyers this spring,” said TREBB Chief Information Officer. “However, we still have a substantial amount of pent-up demand in the marketplace. More certainty on the trade front and an easing in geopolitical tensions would result in further improvements in market activity,” said TRREB Chief Information Officer Jason Mercer.

Detached homes and condominium-apartment saw the biggest sales increases, rising 9.2% and 9.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, semi-detached home and townhouse sales rose marginally while posting declines a year earlier

On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, the average selling price edged higher in April compared with March, while the MLS HPI Composite remained flat.

TRREB also used the report to highlight a new housing policy paper titled Removing Roadblocks: Tackling Municipal Barriers to Housing Supply and Affordability in Ontario, which calls for additional provincial reforms aimed at increasing housing supply and improving affordability.

“We recently released a major new housingpolicy report, Removing Roadblocks: Tackling Municipal Barriers to Housing Supply and Affordability in Ontario, outlining the next phase of provincial housing-policy reforms needed to build more of the right types of homes and improve affordability for Ontarians,” said John DiMichele, CEO of TRREB. “While historic progress has been made, we must continue the work of removing the decades of legislative and regulatory red tape, outdated local rules, and rising municipal costs that are blocking new housing in Ontario. This report is a roadmap for cutting red tape and unlocking new housing supply.”