Toronto real estate guide 2026: market, neighbourhoods and what’s being built

At a glance: Toronto is not one market. In August 2026 the median sale in the central districts was $690,000 while the east of the city sat at $825,000, because the core sells mostly condos and the east sells houses. Read the city by property type and district, then check what is actually being built near the address.

Checked on 3 October 2026 against TRREB, municipal, regional, provincial and Metrolinx sources. Anything I could not confirm on an official page is left out or labelled.

Toronto market snapshot: September 2026

Numbers below are for City of Toronto, all home types, from TRREB’s September 2026 Market Watch. October data is due in early November; this page is updated monthly.

September 2026	Toronto	GTA
Sales	1,937	5,040
Average price	$1,034,320	$1,006,409
Median price	$810,000	$860,000
New listings	6,521	16,500
Active listings	9,865	26,131
Months of inventory	4.6	4.6
Sale-to-list price	99%	98%
Average days on market	33	34
MLS® HPI benchmark (year over year)	$908,200 (-3.84%)	$917,600 (-4.65%)

How I read it: This is a balanced market: buyers have choice and time, so condition and price position decide who sells.

Benchmark by type (MLS® HPI)	Price	Year over year
Detached	$1,417,600	-4.48%
Semi / attached	$1,111,200	-4.94%
Townhouse	$714,700	-5.04%
Condo apartment	$543,800	-6.36%

Prices are down by a similar amount across home types (detached 4.5%, condo apartments 6.4% year over year), so the opportunity is in individual homes, not one property type.

Where to live in Toronto

• Downtown core and Midtown: Condo-heavy. Condo apartment benchmarks are down about 7% year over year, so buyers have room to negotiate and sellers need sharp pricing.
• Scarborough: Detached and semi stock near new transit (Line 5 open, the subway extension under construction). See the Scarborough guide.
• North York: Yonge–Sheppard condos, Fairview and Leslie towers, and established detached streets. See the North York guide.
• Etobicoke: Bloor–Kipling rental towers, the Cloverdale Mall plan and family areas such as Islington. See the Etobicoke guide.

Neighbourhood notes are my professional view, not official data.

What’s approved and being built in Toronto

Only projects with an official source are listed, with the exact stage each has reached. “Approved” means a planning decision; it is not a construction start. Where a building permit has been issued, that is the strongest sign a project is actually starting.

Project	What	Stage (official)	Transit
Galleria Mall redevelopment, 1245 Dupont St	Mall redevelopment; tower of 31 storeys, 427 units (a 50-storey, 644-unit tower applied for 29 Sep 2026)	Building permit issued 11 Dec 2025; under construction	Dufferin / Lansdowne (Line 2)
610 Bay St and 130 Elizabeth St (Housing Now)	827 rental units, 210 affordable	Construction began Dec 2025	St Patrick / Dundas (Line 1)
275 Merton St (Housing Now)	40 storeys, 494 rental units (148 affordable)	Site work began Sep 2025	Davisville (Line 1)
985 Woodbine Ave	606 units with grocery, theatre and daycare	Zoning approved Nov 2024; building permits applied Aug 2026	Woodbine (Line 2)
Eastern Avenue transit-oriented community	12 storeys, about 165 homes	Provincial zoning order 11 Jun 2026	Ontario Line (under construction)
East Harbour (former Unilever lands)	Major employment hub plus up to 302,000 m² of residential	Zoning order 2022; employment conversion item deferred at Council Jun 2026	Future East Harbour station (Ontario Line + GO)

More approved and permitted projects by area are in the Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke guides and in the GTA developments tracker.

For a GTA-wide view of what is permitted and under construction, see the GTA developments tracker and mall and plaza redevelopments.

Transit: running today vs. coming later

• Line 5 Eglinton is open (service started 8 Feb 2026, Mount Dennis to Kennedy). TTC
• Line 6 Finch West is open (7 Dec 2025; full hours from 15 Mar 2026). TTC
• Ontario Line, Scarborough Subway Extension and Eglinton West extension are under construction. Metrolinx has not published an opening year for any of them, so treat any date you see in an ad as marketing. Metrolinx

Taxes and closing costs in Toronto

2026 residential property tax rate: 0.767311% of assessed value (City 0.605295% + education 0.153000% + City Building Fund 0.009016%). Official 2026 rates. Taxes are charged on MPAC’s assessed value, which is usually well below today’s market price, so ask for the property’s actual tax bill.

• Toronto buyers pay two land transfer taxes: Ontario’s and the City’s Municipal Land Transfer Tax. Since 1 Apr 2026 the City rate climbs above 2% on homes over $2M (2.5% to $3M, 4.40% to $4M, up to 8.6% over $20M). City of Toronto MLTT rates
• First-time buyers can get up to $4,475 back on the City tax and up to $4,000 on the provincial tax, if they qualify.
• Toronto’s Vacant Home Tax is 3% of assessed value if a home sits empty and isn’t declared. City of Toronto
• Developers: Council adopted a development charge reduction program on 29–30 Jul 2026 (40% off studio and 1-bed units, 60% off larger units, retroactive to 30 Mar 2026, once the provincial funding agreement is in place). Council item CC43.9

Buying new? Read the Ontario pre-construction buyer guide for the 2026 HST rebates (up to $50,000 federal for first-time buyers, and Ontario relief on the provincial part).

For business owners and commercial tenants

Commercial corridors: Eglinton Ave (Line 5 now open), Finch Ave W (Line 6), Sheppard Ave E, Danforth, Queen and King along the Ontario Line, and The East Mall / Dundas W in Etobicoke.

• EDGE incentive: open. A grant equal to 100% of the municipal tax increase for 5 years on qualifying new employment space (minimum $3M of construction). Apply before 31 Dec 2027. City of Toronto
• Small business property tax subclass: 20% municipal rate cut, applied automatically to eligible properties. City of Toronto
• Main Street Innovation Fund: open to 26 Oct 2026 for Little Jamaica only. Façade, storefront and transit-construction grants are closed right now.

Looking for space or a business here? Find premises or buy or sell a business confidentially.

Schools in Toronto: how to check rankings and boundaries

School zone is one of the first things Toronto buyers search for, and one of the easiest things to get wrong. A listing that says “in the X school zone” is not a guarantee. Here is how I check it for clients before they offer.

Who runs the schools: English public schools in Toronto are run by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), English Catholic schools by the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB). French-language schools are run by Conseil scolaire Viamonde (public) and Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir (Catholic).

1. Use the board’s own school locator with the exact address, not the listing description. Boundaries follow streets, and two sides of the same street can go to different schools.
2. Check results from two sources: EQAO publishes each school’s provincial test results, and the Fraser Institute ranks Ontario elementary and secondary schools at compareschoolrankings.org. Rankings measure test scores, not the whole school, so visit too.
3. Ask about “holding schools”. When a local school is full, new students in growing areas can be directed to a school farther away until space opens. This matters most in new subdivisions.
4. Programs have their own boundaries. French Immersion, IB, gifted and arts programs often draw from a different area than the home school, and some need an application.
5. Get it in writing before you waive conditions. Boundaries can change. Call the board’s planning or admissions office with the address, and keep the answer.

Want homes in a specific Toronto school zone? Tell me the school and your budget. I check each home’s address against the board locator before I send it to you.

Selling or buying in Toronto: how I would approach it

Selling: price against the homes a buyer will actually compare with yours (same type, condition and recent enough), not the area average above. Then work out what you would keep after the mortgage payout and costs.Buying: decide what matters more, existing transit or a project that is only approved, and check the stage of anything near the address before you firm up.

Read next: GTA developments 2026–2028: what’s approved and being built

General information about Toronto, not a valuation, investment, tax or legal advice. Planning status and incentives change; confirm with the municipality before relying on them. Inderpal Sidhu, Salesperson · HomeLife Silvercity Realty Inc., Brokerage.

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Inderpal Sidhu, Salesperson · HomeLife Silvercity Realty Inc., Brokerage. Not intended to solicit properties or clients already under contract with another brokerage.