If you looked only at Toronto’s August real estate numbers, it would be easy to come away with one conclusion:

The market got weaker.

Sales fell. Average prices declined. Homes took longer to sell.

But dig a little deeper into the latest Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) Market Watch report, and the picture becomes considerably more interesting.

Because while activity slowed in August, inventory also declined, the relationship between sales and new listings barely changed, and months of inventory remained steady.

In other words, August may have been slower.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Toronto’s housing market became weaker.

And with the fall market now beginning, that distinction matters.

Toronto Real Estate by the Numbers: August 2026

Let’s start with what actually happened in the City of Toronto.

August recorded:

• 1,767 home sales
• $979,684 average selling price
• $770,000 median selling price
• 4,200 new listings
• 8,727 active listings
• 38.3% Sales-to-New-Listings Ratio
• 4.6 months of inventory
• 97% average sale-to-list ratio
• 35 average listing days on market

Compared with July, sales declined 21.2%, the average selling price declined 3.1%, and the median price declined 3.8%.

Homes also took longer to sell, with average listing days on market rising from 32 days in July to 35 days in August.

At first glance, those numbers don’t exactly scream momentum.

But there’s another side to the story.

Buyers Slowed Down — But So Did Sellers

Here’s where August becomes interesting.

Toronto sales dropped significantly from July.

But new listings also fell 15.7%, from 4,980 to 4,200.

Active listings declined by approximately 6.3%, from 9,310 to 8,727.

And despite all that movement, the Sales-to-New-Listings Ratio barely changed:

38.1% in July → 38.3% in August.

Months of inventory?

4.6 months in July → 4.6 months in August.

That tells us something important.

August wasn’t simply a month where buyers disappeared while homes piled up.

Instead, both sides of the market slowed down.

That’s a very different scenario.

Why We Wouldn’t Read Too Much Into August’s Price Drop

The average Toronto selling price fell from approximately $1.011 million in July to $979,684 in August.

That’s a 3.1% monthly decline.

The median fell 3.8%.

Does that mean the value of the average Toronto home suddenly dropped 3–4% in 31 days?

We wouldn’t interpret the numbers that way.

Monthly average prices are heavily influenced by the mix of homes that happen to sell.

If fewer expensive detached properties sell and more lower-priced condos transact, the citywide average can decline even if the value of an individual property hasn’t changed by the same amount.

Summer seasonality matters too.

TRREB’s broader GTA analysis provides an important reality check: on a seasonally adjusted basis, its average selling price actually edged higher compared with July, while the MLS Home Price Index was essentially flat. 

That’s why one headline number rarely tells the entire story.

What August Did Change: Buyers Had More Time

This may be the most useful takeaway for anyone actually trying to buy or sell a home.

Toronto homes averaged 35 listing days on market in August, compared with 32 in July.

Average Property Days on Market—which can better capture a property’s full selling journey—rose from 37 days to 46 days.

That’s a meaningful shift.

Buyers were taking longer to make decisions.

And in a slower environment, time can create negotiating opportunities.

A property that doesn’t generate an offer during its first week can look very different to a seller three or four weeks later.

That doesn’t mean every seller will negotiate.

It means buyers need to understand where time is creating leverage.

What Does This Mean for Toronto Buyers?

August was a reminder that buyers still have opportunities.

But the best strategy isn’t simply offering below asking on everything.

Look for situations where the property itself is giving you leverage.

That could mean a home that:

• Has been sitting longer than competing listings.
• Requires renovations or visible maintenance.
• Has an awkward layout.
• Was initially priced too aggressively.
• Has already gone through a price adjustment.
• Competes in a segment with plenty of similar alternatives.

Those are the situations where patience can pay.

At the same time, buyers shouldn’t assume the entire Toronto market is soft.

Active inventory actually declined in August.

And certain neighbourhoods and property types continue to behave very differently from the citywide average.

The right family home, in the right neighbourhood, at the right price can still attract attention quickly.

What Does This Mean for Toronto Sellers?

August reinforces something we’ve been saying for months:

You can’t rely on the market to do the work for you.

Toronto homes sold for an average of 97% of asking price in August.

That doesn’t mean sellers should simply price 3% higher and expect to negotiate down.

Quite the opposite.

In a market where buyers are taking longer and comparing more options, an ambitious asking price can cost you the most valuable period of your listing: the first week.

The goal is to make buyers feel that your home deserves attention while it’s fresh.

That means:

Preparation. Pricing. Presentation. Pace.

Get those right and you give yourself the best chance of creating competition.

Get the initial price wrong and you may spend the next several weeks trying to convince buyers to reconsider a listing they’ve already dismissed.

Toronto Isn’t One Housing Market

This becomes especially obvious when we look below the citywide averages.

Our August Eatonville analysis is a great example.

Only six freehold properties sold during the month, averaging $2,138,917. But that number was heavily influenced by two luxury transactions above $3 million. Individual freehold results ranged from $862,500 to $4.25 million and from 84% to 107% of asking price. 

Imagine trying to make a buying or selling decision based solely on the $2.14 million “average.”

You’d miss most of the story.

That’s increasingly true across Toronto.

The citywide market can tell us which way the wind is blowing.

But your neighbourhood, property type and price point tell us whether that wind is actually affecting you.

September Is the Month We’re Watching

August is traditionally part of the slower summer market.

September is different.

Families return from vacation.

School starts.

Sellers who intentionally waited through summer bring properties to market.

Buyers who paused their search begin paying attention again.

That’s why we think September will provide a much better test of where Toronto’s housing market is heading this fall.

The question isn’t simply whether sales increase.

We’ll be watching what happens to supply when buyers return.

If new listings increase significantly, buyers may continue to enjoy plenty of choice and negotiating power.

If buyer activity returns faster than inventory, the balance could begin shifting again.

That’s the number behind the number we’ll be watching.

Our Take: Slower Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Weaker

August’s Toronto real estate numbers are a good example of why we don’t make decisions based on one statistic.

Yes, sales declined.

Yes, raw average and median prices declined.

Yes, homes took longer to sell.

But inventory also declined.

The Sales-to-New-Listings Ratio barely moved.

Months of inventory remained unchanged.

And TRREB’s seasonally adjusted GTA price measures were considerably more stable than the raw Toronto numbers might suggest. 

So our takeaway isn’t that Toronto’s housing market suddenly weakened.

It’s that August hit the brakes.

Now we get to see what happens when the fall market steps on the gas.

For buyers, that means opportunities still exist—particularly where listings have accumulated days on market or need work.

For sellers, it means strategy matters more than ever. Buyers have time to compare, and average listings can get overlooked quickly.

And for move-up families who are doing both?

This may actually be one of the more interesting markets we’ve seen in years.

Because when both the home you’re selling and the home you’re buying are operating in a more measured environment, the conversation becomes less about perfectly timing the market and more about strategically managing the move from one property to the next.