Toronto home sales down 27% in February, while Vancouver sees 11.7% dip

Sales were down 28.5% from January on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The average selling price declined 2.2% compared with a year earlier to $1,084,547, as the composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, was down 1.8% year-over-year.

Meanwhile, 12,066 properties were newly listed in the GTA last month, up 5.4 per cent compared with last year, as total inventory in the region soared 76 per cent to 19,536.

The board said some buyers remain hesitant, despite the imbalance of sales and new inventory providing them with more favourable conditions. But an anticipated decline in borrowing costs in the coming months should improve affordability.

“Many households in the GTA are eager to purchase a home, but current mortgage rates make it difficult for the average household to comfortably afford monthly payments on a typical property,” said TRREB president Elechia Barry-Sproule in a press release.

TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer said macroeconomic factors such as Canada’s imperiled trade relationship with the U.S. are also spooking would-be buyers who are taking “a wait-and-see attitude towards buying a home.”

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order hitting Canada with 25% across-the-board tariffs, except for a 10% levy on Canadian energy, took effect. Canada’s response includes retaliatory tariffs on $155 billion worth of American goods.

“On top of lingering affordability concerns, homebuyers have arguably become less confident in the economy,” Mercer said.

“If trade uncertainty is alleviated and borrowing costs continue to trend lower, we could see much stronger home sales activity in the second half of this year.”

In the City of Toronto, there were 1,540 sales last month, a 21.2% drop from February 2024. Throughout the rest of the GTA, home sales fell 30.8% to 2,497.

All property types saw fewer sales in February compared with a year ago throughout the region.

Detached homes saw the steepest decline with 31.1% fewer sales, followed by townhouses at 30.6%, semi-detached homes at 22.3% and condos at 22%.

Vancouver market ‘balanced’

Home sales declined in the Vancouver area by 11.7% on a year-over-year basis, the city’s real estate board said yesterday. Greater Vancouver Realtors tallied home sales at to 1,827 in February, and said market conditions were in balanced territory amid a moderate increase in new listings.

Sales fell 28.9% below the 10-year seasonal average for the month.

There were 5,057 newly listed properties on the market, a 10.9% increase from February 2024, which followed a more dramatic growth of over 46% the previous month.

Greater Vancouver Realtors director of economics and data analytics Andrew Lis says that after the rush of new supply in January, both home sales and new listings in February were closer to historical averages.

He says that given the potential Bank of Canada rate cut expected later this month, homebuyers “may find slightly improved borrowing conditions while enjoying the largest selection of homes on the market since pre-pandemic times.”

The composite benchmark price in February was $1,169,100, down 1.1% from a year earlier and 0.3% below January.