Home sales across Canada fell 1.3 per cent in February from January, and 8.1 per cent year over year, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.Richard Buchan/The Canadian Press
In a patchy Toronto-area real estate landscape this March, market participants are devising artful strategies on both sides of the deal.
In South Riverdale, the owners of a two-bedroom row house wrote a letter to potential buyers describing the things they love about the house and what they will miss about the lively vibe on Queen Street East.
The missive from sellers is a turnabout after years of buyers attaching letters to their offers with the hope a sentimental homeowner would choose them over their rivals in a bidding contest.
Suzanne Lewis, real estate agent with Bosley Real Estate, listed the house at 137 Munro St. in the fall with an asking price of $1.259-million.
The house did not find a buyer during that rocky market, and Ms. Lewis recently relisted the property with an asking price of $1.149-million.
“It’s a new set of eyeballs seeing it now,” she says of the impact of a price cut. “It’s a very unique house – there are challenges to it.”
The house at 137 Munro St. has unique design features including exposed wood beams in the kitchen.Raffi Tutundjian/Jagged Lens
Ms. Lewis says many house hunters have been drawn to the renovations by the homeowners, who are both in the design industry.
The house, which is the end unit in the row, has exposed wood beams in the kitchen, a sumptuous primary bath and a sliding barn door in a child’s room.
Some buyers, however, pointed out the slender 15-foot width, lack of a parking spot on the property and the unfinished basement.
“It’s small for a family,” acknowledges Ms. Lewis.
To highlight the architecture and counterbalance the view that the building is compact, Ms. Lewis brought in a local artist and influencer to set up a pop-up gallery. Art enthusiasts streamed in for Prosecco, music and a giveaway of fresh flowers.
She created a video to add to the marketing push.
“We want to show the house in action,” says Ms. Lewis. “It may not host a sit-down dinner for 20, but it may host a supercool cocktail party – because we did it.”
Real estate agent Suzanne Lewis marketed the house with a pop-up event.Raffi Tutundjian/Jagged Lens
Toronto’s sales slowdown is part of a malaise in real estate markets in many parts of the country.
Home sales across Canada fell 1.3 per cent in February from January on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
Compared with February, 2025, national sales dropped 8.1 per cent.
Shaun Cathcart, senior economist at CREA, predicts that pent-up buyer demand will be released later in the year, while adding that a cohort of buyers will no doubt hold off for a bottom in prices in some Ontario and British Columbia cities.
The national MLS Home Price Index fell 4.8 per cent in February from the same month last year.
Drilling into the data in the Greater Toronto Area, a more stark comparison in the view of Pritesh Parekh, real estate agent with Century 21 Legacy, is the 57-per-cent drop in the number of properties that changed hands last month versus the same month in 2022.
During the market frenzy in February of that year, 9,097 sales were recorded. This year in February, the tally was 3,868.
“It is shocking how much less activity there is,” says Mr. Parekh.
Home sales fall further in February as mortgage rates and ‘relentless’ weather weigh on market
Mr. Parekh is working with clients who are in the midst of trading up during the current buyer’s market.
The couple knows the math works in their favour, he says, because the price of the larger, detached house they are searching for in Mississauga will have fallen more significantly than the price of the condo townhouse they just sold.
Despite that knowledge, the clients were dismayed by the deflated value of the townhouse when Mr. Parekh presented the data.
“It was still very emotional,” he says. “This was their first home together. It’s a very difficult hump to get over.”
Mr. Parekh says selling first was the safest strategy for this couple, who have a firm deal in hand and certainty surrounding their finances as they plan the next purchase.
Some buyers prefer to shop around for a deal before selling their existing property, Mr. Parekh says, but he advises against that.
Those people often end up selling for less than they could have because they are barrelling towards the closing date for the new home.
“Once you’re on the hook, there’s immense pressure,” he says. “It might put you in a very difficult position. You might have to do massive price drops.”
Toronto home sales ‘hit and miss’ in March
Mr. Parekh is now keeping an eye out for precisely that scenario while his buyers hunt for a detached house.
He asks his clients to send him 10 or so listings that meet their needs, then selects the properties that have undergone price cuts to target first.
A history of three to five reductions indicates the seller is likely very motivated, he says.
Mr. Parekh adds that many sellers become overconfident when their property first hits the market and attracts a lot of attention.
They may see a flurry of showings and even draw an offer within the first two or three days.
Some – tempted to see if they can do better – rebuff the initial offer.
“There are scenarios where that could end up being foolish,” says Mr. Parekh.
With each additional 30 days on the market, a buyer will build in a cushion on price.
Ultimately, new offers coming in will be decreasing in price, not rising.
Sellers who want to test out a high price and then relist at a lower price if they are not successful face a similar risk, he says.
“The very important thing to articulate to sellers is that, if you list it again, and you list it again and again, you add stigma to your listing.”
Buyers begin to assume there is something wrong with the house if no one is willing to buy it.
Mr. Parekh is pleased that, on the bright side, some aspiring purchasers who were shut out of the market by rich prices in the past now have a chance to step in.
He recently represented buyers who purchased a one-bedroom condo in an older building in Scarborough for $404,000.
“It was one of the lowest transactions I’ve ever done in my career,” he notes.
When the market was on a tear, he had to inform many hopeful buyers that they couldn’t find a property for their budget.
“Today I’m happy to tell them, ‘absolutely,’” he says. “It’s not the end of the conversation any more.”