Every figure below comes from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board Market Watch report for July 2026, released on 6 August 2026.

One month of data does not tell you what to do. It does tell you what changed, and this month one thing changed a great deal more than the rest.

The headline numbers

• Sales: 5,995, down 0.9 per cent from 6,047 in July 2025
• New listings: 14,484, down 17.8 per cent year over year
• Average selling price: $1,003,956, down 4.5 per cent from $1,051,600
• MLS Home Price Index composite: down 4.6 per cent year over year
• Active listings at month end: 26,098
• Average days on market: 32 from the most recent listing, 45 from the first listing

Read those in the right order

Sales were essentially unchanged. A 0.9 per cent move on roughly six thousand transactions is noise, not a trend. Buyer demand in July looked much like buyer demand a year earlier.

New listings were not noise. Down 17.8 per cent is a substantial contraction in the number of homes coming to market.

Put those two together and you get the sentence that matters: the same number of buyers were choosing from a meaningfully smaller pool of new listings.

TRREB President Daniel Steinfeld described it this way in the release: "With sales accounting for a larger share of listings, buyers may find there is less room to negotiate moving forward. If current trends continue, home prices could start to level off compared to last year."

So why did prices still fall?

Because prices reflect where the market has been, not where it is heading. The 4.5 per cent decline compares July 2026 with July 2025. Tightening that happened during this summer will show up in prices later, if it holds.

TRREB Chief Information Officer Jason Mercer pointed at the reason buyers have been hesitant: "Many would-be homebuyers are waiting for confidence in the market and broader economy to improve before making a purchase. This includes more clarity on tariffs, inflation and borrowing costs."

On the borrowing side, the Bank of Canada overnight rate stood at 2.3 per cent in July 2026 and the prime rate at 4.5 per cent. Posted mortgage rates were 5.49 per cent for one year, 6.05 per cent for three years and 6.09 per cent for five years. Toronto's unemployment rate was 7.2 per cent in June 2026 and inflation was running at 2.8 per cent.

By home type

Average prices across the whole TRREB area in July 2026:

• Detached: $1,291,690 across 2,789 sales
• Semi-detached: $964,922 across 557 sales
• Townhouse: $817,213 across 1,003 sales
• Condominium apartment: $636,323 across 1,564 sales

Note the split inside the detached figure. In the City of Toronto detached homes averaged $1,547,928. In the surrounding 905 region they averaged $1,207,295. One number, two quite different markets.

The figure most people miss

Average days on market rose on both measures, but not by the same amount.

Measured from the most recent listing date, the average was 32 days, up from 30 a year earlier, a rise of 6.7 per cent. Measured from when a property first came to market, the average was 45 days, up from 40, a rise of 12.5 per cent.

The second figure grew roughly twice as fast as the first. The difference between the two measures is relisting. When a property is withdrawn and brought back, the first clock restarts and the second does not.

So the lengthening of selling times in July was driven disproportionately by homes that did not sell on their first attempt. That is a pricing signal, not a market signal, and it is one a seller can do something about.

What this actually means for you

If you are selling this autumn: you face less competition from new listings than a seller did a year ago. You also face buyers who are comparing you against a lower price level than last summer. Those two facts argue for pricing accurately and launching properly rather than testing a number and correcting later.

If you are buying: prices are lower than a year ago and choice is narrower than a year ago. Whether that is a good trade depends entirely on what you are looking for and where.

If you are doing both: you are on both sides of it, and the month's figures do not settle your decision. Your own carrying costs do.

The caveat that belongs on every market report

These are averages across every property type in every part of a very large region over a single month. They describe the region. They do not describe your street, and they certainly do not describe your house.

If you want your own numbers

Want to know what your home would actually sell for today? Run the Home Worth report on my site, or text me at 647-931-5151 and I will walk you through it.

Danny Macedo, Macedo Real Estate Group, Royal LePage Supreme Realty, Brokerage. Selling in Toronto and York Region since 1996.