These are Toronto's cheapest and priciest neighbourhoods for real estate

As Toronto's real estate market falters, those who still have their heart set on owning a home in and around the city are finding some pretty good deals relative to what they likely would have paid just a few years ago.

As of September, the average price of a house or condo in the GTA sat at $1,059,377, which is close to five per cent lower than the same period last year — a time when prices were already on the decline from 2023 levels.

With real estate sales and values trending downward, active listings peaking, and buyers successfully offering significantly under asking price in what is an increasingly desperate landscape for current sellers, some neighbourhoods are home to properties going for a whopping 53 per cent less, on average, than they would have in 2022.

So, where are the cheapest areas to invest in right now?

Based on the newest data, real estate firm Wahi has just published a list of the pockets where eligible buyers can find the least expensive property, strictly by dollar amount, in the GTA. Though these neighbourhoods may not offer the best deals as far as value-for-money, they serve as ideal entry points for those looking to simply get a foot into the market at the lowest price possible.

It is worth noting that the ratio of condos to detached homes in a given community is among the most defining features qualifying it for (or disqualifying it from) this list.

Per Wahi's examination, the cheapest homes in the Toronto area can now be found in the Yorkdale neighbourhood in North York, where units are selling for an average of just $445,000.

After that is Toronto's Flemingdon Park (average sold price of $479,500), Vaughan's Pine Valley Business Park (where you can get the average home for just $495,000), Mississauga's Fairview neighbourhood ($504,500) and York University Heights in Toronto's north ($510,500).

The platform highlights the transit accessibility, diversity and vibrancy, as well as the rental income potential of many of these locales.

Just to demonstrate the current market disparity, Wahi also summarized the parts of the region home to the loftiest home prices, where pieces of property are regularly selling for multi-millions despite the slow market.

These are, for those curious, Toronto's bougie Lawrence Park (where the average house sold for $4,830,000 last month) and Forest Hill (with an average selling price of $3,175,000), along with York Mills ($2,998,000) and Ledbury Park ($2,995,000) in North York, and, rounding out the top five, Bayview Hill in Richmond Hill (where you need $2,625,000 to secure the standard home).

Indeed, the range shown here is almost as dramatic as the imbalance between supply and demand in the market generally right now, and proves that even when economic times are tough and the real estate sector is tanking, the wealthy will still manage to keep the luxury market afloat.