Here's a big sign Toronto's real estate market is in trouble right now despite confident outlooks

Real estate brokers have a vested interest in hyping up Toronto's housing market, but despite their assurances that a significant rebound is on the way, there are many indications that the region is still in a slump amid enduring unaffordability.

Sales volumes are creeping up in line with the busier fall season and are, for the first time in many months, higher than the same time in 2023. Fewer homes are also going for under asking price, which was a trend earlier in the year.

However, other data points indicate continued trouble: active and new listings are still up double-digit percentages from the same time last year, and this larger spate of homes is sitting on the market for longer — 43.3 per cent longer last month than in September 2023, per the last report from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB).

https://t.co/smhsl6gqNP Realty bubble bursting as power of sales spread

In September, across the Greater Toronto Area, there were 204 power-of-sale listings, more than double the 96 reported in September 2023, an increase of 112% year over year and more than triple pre... pic.twitter.com/8yGa3t2el0

— Danielle Park (@kdaniellepark) October 8, 2024

New insights this week reveal power of sale listings have also surged by a staggering 112 per cent in the last year, with fewer people across Ontario able to cover mortgage payments as bill delinquency and debt soars. 

Some experts, like the broker of record who spoke with the Star on the topic of power of sale listings on Monday, say these numbers will only get worse in the next year in a continuation of the trend that led to more power of sale listings in September than ever seen in the GTA.

And, some sellers are being forced to take massive losses in the hundreds of thousands, too.

Reality check: the astronomical cost of GTA real estate can no longer be supported by the Canadian economy. The real estate alone is suffocating a nation and its people. It’s time for us to say no to overvalued real estate and let the bubble burst. Raise your hand if you agree.

— Fafan (@hfafan) September 20, 2024

It's just one example of new norms that are a departure from our once red-hot market, along with major residential developments put on hold or going into receivership, a slow sales environment and less demand for the glut of available homes that are still too overpriced an investment for people to justify.