Buyers continue to snap up homes at prices well below asking price in most areas of the GTA.

The number of people willing to give up decades of income to own real estate in the Toronto area may be starting to rebound after a tough year, but it appears that even with a little more competition , many buyers still get a good deal (relatively speaking, of course).

Estate agents estimate many more homes will change hands in the coming months, driving average prices higher in the new year, but new data shows the vast majority of people bidding on homes and condos in the area are still successfully offering much less than the asking price – more people last month than the month before, in fact.

Wahi’s November 2024 Underbidding and Overbidding Report shows that 75 per cent of homes sold in the Greater Toronto Area last month were sold for less than what homeowners were seeking.

This compares to 70 percent in October 2024 – a continuation of a trend following the peak of the year for bidding wars in March.

“Auction activity surged during the spring market before retreating,” writes Wahi, “but subsequent rate cuts from the Bank of Canada did not trigger a significant increase in auction activity during of the second half of the year.”

Chart of Wahi’s latest market overview.

The company’s team also adds that while there were more homes being overbid last March than in March 2023, this year’s high of 43 percent of neighborhoods in “territory bidding war” – where the median price of homes sold was lower than the median listing price that month – was far lower than last year, when homes in as much as 68 percent of the region were listed for sale (in May).

In November, buyers were getting away with selling for less than the asking price in 91 percent of neighborhoods, compared to just 7 percent of neighborhoods where bidding wars are still the norm. In October, these figures were 88 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

The pockets that saw the biggest difference between sales price and asking price when it came to underbidding were North York in Toronto (where homes sold for an average of $153,000 less than the listed price) , King in King Township ($148,000 less), East Lake in Oakville. ($109,000 less), Vales of Humber in Brampton ($102,999 less) and Brookville in Milton ($99,900 less).

The average price in these areas ranged from $1,938,000 to $3,450,000, providing more room for price negotiations.

Chart from Wahi’s latest market overview.

On the more overbid side were Milliken Mills West and Wismer in Markham (where the typical house was outbid by $201,888 and $66,112, respectively), Kennedy Park in Scarborough (overbid by a median of $29,500), Little Portugal-Brockton Village in Toronto (overbid by $18,000) and Rural Richmond Hill (overbid by $15,550 in average).

The price of these neighborhoods ranged between $970,500 and $1,603,000.

Chart from Wahi’s latest market overview.

Nonetheless, Royal LePage forecasts a 5% increase in the typical sale price of a home in the Greater Toronto Area by the final months of 2025, thanks to increased demand in the new year, while RE/ MAX estimates that regions like Toronto, Durham Region and Kingston, London and Simcoe County will all see double-digit year-over-year price acceleration.

Although sales volumes have increased in recent months compared to the same period in 2023, sales decreased by 11.8% between October and November 2024, although both were higher than in September.

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