Of the homes that sold in 2025 but were purchased in 2022 (at the peak of a decade-long run-up in prices), some 36.6 per cent sold at a loss.Fred Lum/the Globe and Mail
Real estate sales data from Ontario show a growing share of homes sold for a loss in 2025, and the number of homes sold by lenders through power of sale continues to grow.
In its annual overview of Ontario’s housing market, Teranet Inc., the private company that manages all registration of property titles in the province, found that few players in the real estate market have seen their fortunes improve since the Bank of Canada began raising interest rates in 2022, and that a growing share of homebuyers are falling behind.
“The factors are not dying down; I think it’s more doubling up now. It will get more expensive to survive from a household and funds management perspective in 2026,” said Karan Malhotra, a manager in the data and analytics department of Teranet.
The most dramatic finding in the report was the exponential growth in power of sale, or POS, transactions since 2022, which reached 2,979 in 2025. That’s the highest number since 2016, but Mr. Malhotra notes that between 2011 and 2022, POS sales – where a lender takes control of a sales process in order to recoup unpaid debts – had been on a steady decline.
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In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, there were 7,790 power of sale actions in 2011 (about 2.35 per cent of all the transactions in the province), but a decade of low interest rates knocked that number down every year until 2022, when it reached a low of just 578.
Mr. Malhotra points to the macroeconomic headwinds of the past five years – such as COVID-19-related unemployment spikes, soaring inflation and interest rates being raised to combat that – as drivers in the increase in POS sales. Still, a 415 per cent increase in just three years is a sign of real turmoil in the market.
“I would not be surprised if the majority of these are in the condo sector,” said Michael De Luca, a realtor with Re/Max Hallmark Realty Ltd. who tracks POS listings and has noticed an uptick in investment properties being marketed by lenders of defaulting borrowers.
Mr. Malhotra hasn’t compiled the data so far for 2026, but expects to see negative impact from the ongoing trade war and increases in mortgage rates on homes renewing from the low rates prevalent in 2021. “I think a lot of renewals will decide the market shift,” he said
The other sobering set of statistics relates to how many homes are selling at a loss. Whether a home sold in 2025 recorded a loss greatly depends on when it was purchased. Of those that sold in 2025 but were purchased in 2022 (at the peak of a decade-long run-up in prices), some 36.6 per cent sold at a loss.
That is five times as many losses as reported for homes purchased in 2020, for example. Homes purchased in 2023 did marginally better, with just 24.6 per cent selling at a loss in 2025. Meanwhile, of all the houses sold in 2021 that had been purchased in any of the previous four years, the percentage of losses was typically below 2 per cent.
While some lightly populated areas of the province saw significant shares of transactions for a loss (Dufferin with 37.8 per cent, Niagara North with 32 per cent and Halliburton with 27.8 per cent), some of the most populous regions also saw a large share of properties sell for losses. These include Peel (Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon) with 29.6 per cent, Durham (Oshawa, Pickering, Ajax and Whitby) with 23 per cent and Toronto with 22.3 per cent.
How much you paid for a property also said a lot about whether it recorded a loss: 37.9 per cent of homes purchased in 2022 and sold in 2025 recorded a loss if the recent sale price was between $500,000 and $1-million. Mr. Malhotra points to the deterioration of the Toronto condo market for the steep drop in this most affordable category.
Properties in the middle category of $1-million to $3-million also fared poorly, with 33.7 per cent of those purchased in 2022 recording losses. That category of losses is likely dominated by what might be called the middle-class suburbs around in Toronto region.
“A lot of houses – not in the ‘posh’ areas – were selling in the COVID time for more than $3-million. Realistically, a 3,500-square-feet house was going for around $2.9-million to $3.2-million,” said Mr. Malhotra. “With the price corrections back to within the $1- to $3-million range, that’s where probably a lot of losses are coming.”
Another worrying trend in the data is the average age of first-time home buyers. In 2015, half the population of first-time homebuyers was age 36 and under. But a decade later, that dividing line had risen to 40.
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This also comes as first-time homebuyers retook the lead for the most active buyers in the province: In 2022, multiproperty owners purchased 25.2 per cent of homes and first time buyers only accounted for 20.8. In 2025, the multiowners dropped to third place with 21.5 per cent of purchases, while first-timers switched to first place with 24.8 per cent of purchases.
“I’m seeing it first-hand, the only younger buyers are getting help from the bank of mom and dad,” said Andre Kutyan, broker with Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd., who notes that the carrying costs and down payments for non-luxury detached homes in Toronto can eat up more than half of disposable income of high-earning professionals.
“I’ve seen clients who are lawyers, doctors, in their early 30s newlyweds they have a hard time saving up and they can’t buy,” he said.
Mr. Malhotra points to macroeconomic factors again, but acknowledges that even though prices have been falling, it’s still getting more difficult for buyers to save up or afford financing.
“Borrowing costs are higher; the stress test basically shrinks that population as well,” said Mr. Malhotra. “They are motivated to buy the property, but at the same time they are not able to. It’s not how it used to be.”