GTA Sees Surge in Budget-Friendly Condo Sales Under $500K

As the Greater Toronto Area’s condo market stalls, demand for units priced under $500,000 has been the exception, suggests new analysis by Wahi.

By Josh Sherman | 3 minute read

Cooler conditions have prevailed in the Greater Toronto Area’s condo market, and some buyers are taking advantage of the less-competitive playing field by entering the market at lower price points.

Condo sales are down sharply in the Greater Toronto Area so far this year, but the number of units changing hands for under $500,000 is surging, according to new analysis by Wahi, a Canadian digital real estate platform.

In fact, despite the ongoing downturn in the first quarter, the number of GTA condos selling for between $400,000 and $499,999 increased by 20% compared to the same time last year.

These condos, which include apartments as well as townhomes with maintenance fees, have considerably lower prices than the region’s first-quarter median of $629,250, which edged about 4% lower from Q1 2024.

“Some homebuyers are clearly taking advantage of cooler conditions in the GTA’s condo market to purchase units at a lower price than they could have even a year ago,” says Wahi CEO Benjy Katchen. “With investors mostly absent from the condo market today, there’s less competition for end-user buyers who may have been priced out of the single-family home market,” he continues.

There was also a spike (55%) in condos selling for between $300,000 to $399,999, although this accounts for a sliver of the overall market, accounting for 2% of all condo transactions. Just 96 condos in the price range of $300,000 to $399,999 sold in Q1, compared to 62 units (12% of all sales) in Q1 of previous year.

The pickup in sub-$500,000 condo-buying activity was concentrated outside of the City of Toronto, particularly Halton and Peel regions.

Sales in all other price brackets were down: GTA-wide, condo sales totalled 5,188, a decline of 23% from the first quarter of 2024. The sharpest drop was in the $700,000-$799,000 range, with sales falling 36% annually.

As more expensive segments struggle, lower-priced condos continue to account for a larger share of the overall market. In Q1 last year, the share of $400,000-$499,999 sales was four percentage points lower versus this year.

Although homebuyers were showing more enthusiasm for condos priced below $500,000 in the first quarter, these units did take longer to sell than before.

Condos in the $400,000-$499,999 range took an average of 38 days to sell, up from 35 days last year. Meanwhile, units in the $300,000-$399,999 bracket spent an average of 43 days on the market, compared to 34 days in Q1 2024.

The fact that these condos are staying on the market longer as sales increase could reflect more negotiations between buyers and sellers. Chillier condo market dynamics give buyers more power to negotiate conditions or lower prices, and the trend doesn’t appear to be changing.

As of April, 97% of GTA neighbourhoods with at least five condo sales were in underbidding territory, according to Wahi’s most recent Market Pulse report.