Toronto condo projects stall as buyers stay away, leaving thousands of units frozen

Builders have given up trying to sell thousands of condo units in Toronto over the past five years, data shows, as the city’s housing market grinds almost to a complete standstill.
Between 2020 and 2025, 25 projects have stopped sales on more than 3,200 new units in and around Toronto, numbers pulled together by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) reveal.
Say goodbye to rent control, indefinite leases if Ontario passes housing proposal: advocates

Ontario’s planned new housing legislation could open the door to ending rent control and indefinite leases across the province, advocates warn after a recent proposal by Premier Doug Ford’s government.
The Ford government introduced a new housing bill on Thursday that it says would streamline approvals and let developers build homes more quickly.
But buried in the legislation is a proposal for “alternative options to lease expiry rules that could allow landlords to control who occupies their units and for how long,” including through adjustments to rental arrangements based on “market conditions, personal needs or business strategies,” according to the province’s briefing slides Thursday.
Ontario’s Proposed HST Rebate Could Help First-Time Buyers Enter the Market

Affordability remains a persistent challenge for first-time buyers in Ontario. However, conditions are beginning to shift, with rising inventory, modest price adjustments across the province, and lower interest rates creating a more favourable environment for those ready to enter the market.
To add to this momentum, the Ontario government has proposed an HST rebate for first-time buyers, in the firm of a full rebate of the 8% provincial portion of the HST on newly built or substantially renovated homes valued up to $1 million. For buyers eager to make their move, this could be a step in the right direction to boost affordability and confidence. When combined with the federal 5% HST rebate, buyers could save up to $130,000 off the cost of a new home. These measures are designed to reduce upfront costs and encourage construction. Still, affordability challenges remain a key barrier, raising the question: Will it be enough to bring first-time buyers back into the market? REMAX research shows that 54% of Canadians believe this fall is a good time to strike a deal and incentives like this could further encourage first-time buyers to act.
Toronto Housing Market Outlook (2026)

Looking ahead to 2026, the Greater Toronto Area is expected to shift toward a balanced-to-buyer market, with conditions offering more opportunities for buyers while still maintaining steady demand. Price adjustments and lower interest rates are likely to support affordability, encouraging renewed activity across both entry-level and move-up segments.
The top three neighbourhoods expected to be most desirable in 2026 are Waterfront Communities (West of Yonge), the Bay Street Corridor, and the University area. The return to in-person work for government and finance employees, combined with price adjustments and lower interest rates, is making the condo and apartment market more accessible, driving renewed demand in these urban, transit-connected areas.
New carbon monoxide laws coming into effect for Ontario in January 2026

Carbon monoxide detectors save lives, and most provinces require them in your home. So it’s important to understand the rules and regulations that your region has in place. Starting Jan. 1, 2026, Ontario will be implementing new carbon monoxide regulations to keep residents safe from the ‘silent killer.’
“A major update that’s going to impact most people, I would say, is the addition of the requirement to have it on every level of your house,” says Scott Dalzell, Division Chief at Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services. “So, you know, a typical two- or three-story house, you’re going to have one basement level, main floor, second floor, and so on.”
More than 35,000 households left the GTA for other parts of Canada last year. Here is where they went

More than 35,000 households left the Greater Toronto Area for other parts of Canada last year with Simcoe County, Hamilton and Calgary topping the list of destinations, new data obtained by CTV News Toronto shows.
The data compiled by Environics Analytics, a marketing and analytical services company owned by Bell Canada, found that nearly 250,000 GTA households moved between the first quarters of 2024 and 2025, however the vast majority of those relocations were within the same census area – for example a Toronto resident moving to another neighbourhood within the city.
Of the 68,173 households that moved to another region, about 51.5 per cent (35,140) left the GTA altogether. Meanwhile, 48.5 per cent (33,033) relocated to other regions within the GTA.
Posthaste: Why Canadian home prices may not have hit bottom yet

Inventory has been building in the market for two years, especially in Ontario and British Columbia, where homes for sale reached a decades high in the spring, said Robert Hogue, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada.
However, new listings have now begun to moderate and were down 1.4 per cent nationally in October from the month before.
From 1.5 million to ‘as many homes as we can’: Ontario faces home building realities By The Canadian Press

“The minister has communicated that the target there, he’s softened, said that target is no longer a hard target, but that we’re going to continue to move forward on building as many homes as we can,” Bethlenfalvy said.
In the spring budget, the province expected to see 71,800 homes built this year — already far off the pace needed to reach 1.5 million, but now it projects an even lower 64,300.
Projections for the next few years are also low, with 70,200 new homes expected next year, 79,600 projected in 2027 and 83,700 expected in 2028.
CREA Updates Resale Housing Market Forecasts for 2025 and 2026

In 2024, CREA forecast a recovery year in Canada’s resale housing markets, fueled by pent-up demand and lower interest rates. By mid-fall 2024 the rebound appeared to be underway. That forecast would have seen national home sales once again top the 500,000 mark in 2025, and the average price of those sales return to the $700,000 range.
In early 2025, tariff chaos and economic uncertainty returned many home buyers back to the sidelines, taking particularly large bites out of activity in British Columbia and Ontario, while putting additional downward pressure on prices.


