More Greater Toronto Area houses selling for below-asking, report says

Underbidding on houses hit its highest level in 18 months the Greater Toronto Area last month.

The buyers’ market continues this summer as underbidding for single-family homes in particular has surged to its highest level since February 2024, according to a new report from digital real estate platform Wahi.

The report found 95 per cent of GTA neighbourhoods with at least five home sales in July saw homes go for below asking — up from 82 per cent a year ago.

While the condo market has been particularly slow, the report noted a “narrowing gap” between neighbourhoods with condos and those with single-family homes selling below list price, Wahi said. In July, 97 per cent of neighbourhoods with condos were underbid, compared to 92 per cent of single-family homes.

“The condo market’s cooldown has been grabbing headlines, but we’re seeing many buyers have recently been able to purchase a house for below asking, too,” says Wahi economist Ryan McLaughlin.

Since Wahi began tracking home buying competition in July of 2022, only December 2023 and January 2024 saw more widespread underbidding, with 98 per cent of neighbourhoods underbid during both months.

“One difference between last month’s underbidding activity and the peak is that this time it occurred when more homes were actually selling,” says McLaughlin.

For example, in December 2023, only 122 neighbourhoods recorded five or more home sales, while that number dropped to 55 in January 2024. Last month, on the other hand, there were at least five home sales in 296 of the GTA’s approximately 400 neighbourhoods.

The report also looked at what percentage of all homes across the GTA sold for below asking last month. Overall, 76 per cent of all GTA homes sold below list price in July, up from 71 per cent the previous month.

While underbidding doesn’t always mean deep discounts for buyers, it’s a general indicator of market behaviour, Wahi said.

Wahi notes that a variety of factors can influence bidding trends, from seasonality to selling strategies. For instance, in some cases, realtors may be more likely to price a home below market value in hopes of attracting multiple offers.

The neighbourhoods with the highest underbidding tend to be outside of the downtown Toronto core.

Ledbury Park in North York was the only holdover from the top five underbidding neighbourhoods in June, this time slipping to the fifth slot when ranked by the median underbid amount. In June, it placed third.

In July, there were no carryovers from June’s top five overbidding neighbourhoods. However, the long-run trend of the top overbidding neighbourhoods generally having lower price points than their underbidding counterparts continued. In fact, of the just 13 neighbourhoods in overbidding territory last month, all but five had a median price below the $1-million mark.

See the full report from Wahi here.

Lead photo of the Casa Loma neighbourhood: Google Maps