Slowing market gives home buyers more choice

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The Elms in Etobicoke takes the lead for most affordable community while Bridle Path has
the title for most expensive neighbourhood

The 2024 Greater Toronto Area (GTA) housing market was yet another year of ups and downs for buyers and sellers. Market conditions varied across housing types as many would-be buyers remained on the sidelines waiting for further rate cuts.

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Here, we look back at some of the affordability highlights from Wahi’s 2024 GTA Housing Snapshot report, which provides an overview of most and least affordable neighbourhoods and other key housing market trends in the Greater Toronto Area in 2024.*

Home sales and prices were down or flat for houses and condos across the GTA. This provided homebuyers with more choice as the number of listed homes soared to historically high levels — above 20,000 — from May onwards.

Single-family homes had a median sales price of $1,185,000 and took an average of 21 days to sell compared to condos, which had a median sales price of $655,500 and sat on the market for an average of 30 days.

The number of overall sales in 2024 remained unchanged from the previous year, while prices dipped slightly in every region in the GTA except the City of Toronto.

York took the lead for the priciest region with a median home price of $1,217,000, followed by Halton at $1,080,000, Peel at $970,000, Toronto at $888,000 and Durham at $860,000.

For much of the year, the majority of the GTA’s approximately 400 neighbourhoods had homes selling below list price. As of December 2024, 83% of GTA neighbourhoods were in underbidding territory.

Bidding activity surged during the spring market, peaking in March with 43% of GTA communities landing in overbidding territory. Subsequent Bank of Canada rate cuts did little to spark a significant increase in bidding activity throughout the second half of the year.

For those on the hunt for a more affordable home, four of the five most affordable neighbourhoods in 2024 could be found in Toronto, where there is a higher concentration of condo-apartment buildings.

The Elms, in Etobicoke, took the lead for most affordable community, with a median sales price of $499,500, followed by Queen St. Corridor in Brampton at $528,500, North York’s Flemingdon Park, at $535,000, Thorncliffe Park, in East York, at $544,500 and North York’s Bermondsey, at $575,000.

At the pricier end, four of the five most expensive neighbourhoods could also be found in Toronto, with one in Halton.

The most expensive area to buy a home was the Bridle Path, which had a median sales price of $5,925,000. Next was East York’s Bennington Heights at $3,050,000, followed by Teddington Park at $3,025,000, Moore Park at $2,950,000, and Southwest Oakville, in Halton, at $2,830,000.

Interest rates and affordability were the defining issues for the GTA housing market in 2024, causing many potential buyers to postpone their homebuying plans.

For homebuyers who did make the jump to ownership in 2024, there was plenty of choice. This also meant more homebuyers could take their time to find the right home without having to compete for it.

Benjy Katchen is the CEO of Wahi, a digital real estate company committed to offering  insights, tools and the team that makes buying a home faster and easier. Visit www.wahi.com