Home sales lower than 2008 financial crisis in Greater Toronto Area: report

Home sales last month in the Greater Toronto Area were lower than during the 2008-9 financial crisis, a new report finds.

New home listings across the GTA jumped 35 per cent from February to March, reaching 14,401, a new report from real estate platform and brokerage HouseSigma found.

This is a typical month-over-month jump as sellers gear up for spring, but buyers aren’t moving at the same pace, HouseSigma said.

A total of 4,896 resale (not including new builds) homes sold in the GTA in March 2026, which is only just over half the 10-year average for March (9,003), the report noted.

Last month was the lowest March for sales in HouseSigma’s GTA sales database, which goes back to 2003, lower even than the 2008/9 financial crisis.

The sluggish market continues to put downward pressure on prices. The median sale price across all GTA home types came in at $875,000 in March, only slightly lower than February’s $878,500, but down 7.4 per cent from a year ago.

Prices were down for all three property types—detached homes were at $1,200,000 (-7.7 per cent), attached at $850,000 (-8.1 per cent), and condo apartments at $548,000 (-9.4 per cent).

HouseSigma chart

However, this downward trend is needed in Toronto, an expert notes.

“The rise in spring listings isn’t unusual, but the slower pace suggests a healthy recalibration. Some listings have stayed on longer, and buyers now have room to make thoughtful moves,” Sammy Kohn, a HouseSigma agent in the GTA, said. “Toronto’s long run as a sellers’ market needed this correction.”

While much of the GTA is seeing lower sales, some communities are seeing more interest than others. HouseSigma’s report looks at the most popular communities based on online listing engagement and views.

In March, four of the five most popular communities were in Durham.

HouseSigma chart

See the full report from HouseSigma here.