Toronto owners struggle to sell their homes as nearly 20,000 sit on market

Companies like Royal LePage may have wanted to dream that 2025 would be a year of improvements for Toronto's real estate market after a rough many months, but so far, that wishful thinking has yet to become anywhere near reality.

January's home sale stats for all housing types across the GTA have dropped, showing worse declines than many hoped or even expected as buyers continue to avoid the market.

According to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), which released the latest market figures this week, there were 7.9 per cent fewer homes changing hands over the course of last month than in January 2024, even with an astounding 70.2 per cent more active listings than the same time last year —  a total of 17,157.

New listings were up by nearly 50 per cent year-over-year, with properties sitting on the market for 1.9 per cent longer. 

Stats for home sales across the GTA in January, courtesy of TRREB.

This is not a devastating blow to stakeholders at this point, but more a continuation of a very concerning trend, with dismal sales volumes continuing month by month in an overvalued, overhyped city that seemingly nothing could bring down.

Interestingly, the overvalued part has still stuck, despite the serious lull — the average price of all homes sold last month was actually 1.5 per cent higher than all homes sold in the same month last year, as desperate as some sellers may be.

But, as has been the case for some time now, condos bucked this trend, seeing a 1.6 per cent price reduction, on average, from January 2024 to January 2025, led by falling prices in the 416 in particular. General interest in new condo builds has been so bad that many developers have delayed planned projects, or watched them go into receivership.

A breakdown of January home. sales by housing type and area code, courtesy of TRREB.

Still, despite January's unfavourable numbers, TRREB expects that spring will bring with it somewhat of a renewal in Toronto area real estate, writing, as experts have been claiming for months now, that "lower borrowing costs coupled with ample supply will improve affordability and prompt more buyers to move off the sidelines."

The organization expects home sales to bounce back in 2025, increasing by 12.4 per cent over the year compared to 2024. It says prices will likewise shoot up by 2.6 per cent to an overall average of $1,147,000.