Where to Find Greater Toronto Area Condos for Around $500,000 (or Less)

GTA condo buyers are snapping up more units for under $550,000 this year even though overall sales are flagging. Here are 10 communities where the median price of a unit is below this level.

By Josh Sherman | 2 minute read

GTA homebuyers appear to be taking advantage of discounted condo prices this year, including in the City of Toronto.

The days when the typical Greater Toronto Area condo was around $500,000 have come and gone, with the median price of an existing unit in the region standing north of $600,000 in recent years. 

However, new analysis from digital real estate platform Wahi has identified 10 GTA communities where the going rate for a unit was still less than $550,000 over the first half of this year.

These lower-cost areas, which had to have at least five sales over the study period, were primarily concentrated in Toronto and Durham region, although York and Halton regions were also represented: 

When comparing list and sale prices in these communities, all were in underbidding territory, which suggests favourable conditions for condo buyers searching for units in this bracket.

It also aligns with a broader trend of underbidding that continues throughout the region. As of July, 82% of the GTA’s neighbourhoods were selling under-asking.

“Despite fewer condo sales this year, homebuyers have been able to purchase a higher number of more-affordably priced units this year than they did in 2023,” says Wahi CEO Benjy Katchen.

Units priced under $550,000 are making up a greater share of overall condo sales this year, suggests Wahi’s analysis of data from Information Technology Systems Ontario (ITSO) and the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB).

Some 20.6% of the 13,241 units that sold as of the end of June did so for less than $550,000, compared to 16.6% over the same period last year. That works out to 2,731 sub-$550,000 sales in the first half this year, up 12% from 2,438 in 2023.

The communities where condos under $550,000 make up the largest share of overall unit sales were mainly located within the City of Toronto.

Old Toronto, which includes the downtown core, saw the highest share of sub-$550,000 condo sales at 19.7%, followed by North York (13.4%), Scarborough (13.3%), Mississauga (12.1%), and Etobicoke (10%).

These five communities were the only places in the GTA where sales below the $550,00 threshold accounted for a double-digit share of transactions in the first half of 2024. They also had the highest shares of sales south of $550,000 between January and June of last year.

The prevalence of lower-priced condo sales in and around Toronto likely reflects the greater availability of smaller urban units in city centres as well as the composition of sales (i.e. more one-bedroom unit sales).

This is the latest analysis from Wahi. It follows a previous report on the condo-parking costs in Toronto.