Ontario homes keep selling at notable losses but experts say market should rebound soon

A well-supplied Ontario housing market throughout the spring and early summer meant that potential home buyers benefitted from increased choice and more negotiating power on prices. 

As a result, more and more properties — including this Guelph townhouse — were sold well below their original prices, and even struggled to finalize a sale despite multiple price reductions. 

According to its listing, the townhouse boasts three bedrooms, four bathrooms, stainless steel appliances, and a walkout to the stone patio. The property's interesting sales history was shared by @ShazieGoalie on X, who regularly shares notable happenings in the province's market. 

The townhouse first sold for $765,000 in October 2023. Just six months later, the home was re-listed for $789,900, but failed to attract any buyers. 

The home's sale history. Source: HouseSigma.

In May, the home was put back on the market at a slight reduction, but the listing was terminated a short while later. In June, the home was re-listed for $777,777. 

In July, the home was re-listed twice, once for $699,900, and another time for $749,000. The townhouse eventually sold for $720,000, representing a $45,000 loss when compared to its price less than a year earlier. 

Many other properties throughout Ontario have sold well below their listing prices this year, including a three-bedroom home in Toronto's Silverthorn neighbourhood, which sold in June at a loss of $207,500, and a Mississauga condo which sold at a $125,000 loss after 10 failed to attempts to sell. 

Despite these cases, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) says that activity in the country's market saw some early signs of renewed life in June 2024, following the Bank of Canada's interest rate cut. 

According to the report, Canada's housing numbers did perk up a bit on a month-over-month basis in June, but it still wasn't a "blow the doors off" month by any means. 

“Year-over-year comparisons don't look great mainly because of how many buyers were still jumping into the market last spring, but that’s a story about last year," said Shaun Cathcart, CREA's Senior Economist.

"What's happening right now is that sales were up from May to June, market conditions tightened for the first time this year, and prices nationally ticked higher for the first time in 11 months." 

According to the report, national home sales climbed 3.7 per cent month-over-month in June.