New home sales in the Greater Toronto Area remain “exceedingly low,” with July seeing the lowest levels in decades, according to a new report.

The report, published by the Altus Group on behalf of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), warned that the current levels are “eclipsing the 1990s downturn.”

Researchers with the Altus Group found home sales in July were down by 48 per cent compared to last year, even lower than the 10-year average.

The report said new home sales for a typical July in the GTA would be 1,941 units based in the previous 10-year average. But only 359 homes were sold in July 2025.

Of the homes sold in the region, condominium apartments, including units in low, medium, and high-rise buildings and stacked townhouses accounted for only 150 units this July, 44 per cent lower than last year and 60 per cent below the 10-year average, the report said.

 The Canadian economy lost jobs for the second month in a row and the unemployment rate climbed to its highest level since May 2016, excluding the pandemic period, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.

The weaker-than-expected reading of the labour market prompted financial markets to increase the odds the Bank of Canada will cut its key interest rate target later this month.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.1 per cent in August as the economy lost 66,000 jobs for the month. The monthly jobs report comes after the July labour force survey that showed a loss of 41,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 6.9 per cent.

A poll of economists heading into the release had expected August to show a gain of 10,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to rise to seven per cent for the month, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

August home sales reported by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) were up on a year-over-year basis. Over the same period, homebuyers benefitted from an even larger increase in the inventory of listings. Average selling prices continued to be negotiated downward due to the elevated choice across market segments.

“Compared to last year, we have seen a modest increase in home sales over the summer. With the economy slowing and inflation under control, additional interest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada could help offset the impact of tariffs. Greater affordability would not only support more home sales but also generate significant economic spin-off benefits,” said TRREB President Elechia Barry-Sproule.

Toronto landlords must now obtain a licence from the city before carrying out repairs or renovations that force tenants to move out, and must apply for this licence within seven days of giving a notice of ending tenancy — known as an N13 notice — to the renter.

With the new bylaw in effect, some tenant advocates say they are already noticing a difference in landlords’ actions.

British statesman Winston Churchill once said, “We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

In many ways, that characterizes what we are doing with development charges (DCs) on new housing. Municipalities are unilaterally imposing the levies on new development to foot the bill for capital costs of infrastructure like roads, water, sewage and power services to support growth.

In the end, it is self-defeating as new homeowners end up paying exorbitant fees that raise the cost of housing.

Premier Doug Ford’s government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January.

It’s a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.

Employees of the Ontario Public Service, provincial agencies, boards and commissions must “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20 and transition to full-time hours in-office effective Jan. 5, 2026, said Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney in an announcement Thursday. 

Canada’s housing market is likely to continue a “gradual recovery” in the second half of the year but a glut of listings in Ontario and British Columbia will likely “keep prices under pressure” in those markets until 2026, a new report from RBC suggests.

RBC’s report says that “supply-demand conditions have shifted in buyers’ favour,” in Ontario. The province has more homes for sale than it has since June 2010. The report suggests that Ontario’s large inventory and competition among sellers will cause prices to drop at steeper rates than other provinces before the market begins to “stabilize” in early 2026.

In contrast, Ontario and B.C. will continue to face challenges with “imbalances in condo markets in Toronto and Vancouver likely spilling into other segments.“

Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) has announced that Mississauga-based iPro Realty Ltd., one of the province’s largest brokerages, will permanently close all 17 of its locations effective Aug. 19. 

The closure follows the discovery of a $10 million shortfall in the company’s consumer deposit and commission trust accounts during a scheduled inspection. The amount has since declined to less than $8 million, RECO confirmed. 

RECO’s registrar Joseph Richer told Real Estate Magazine that the council has not yet confirmed the number of consumers or agents affected.

Not long ago, coworking was seen as a niche segment—creative, agile, but speculative. That perception has since shifted. Today, as major institutional players double down on flexible workspace, one thing has become increasingly clear: Coworking isn’t a stopgap; it’s a resilient and essential part of the global commercial real estate ecosystem.

According to Allied Market Research, the global coworking space market was valued at $9.2 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach $34.5 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.6%. That is exponential growth.

As a tariff storm blew in from south of the border earlier this year, many industries in Canada, including the home building sector, feared the unknown ahead of them.

With stakeholders already keenly aware of the need to rapidly scale up housing supply and improve Canada’s housing affordability gap, blanket tariffs and more targeted material-specific levies meant additional unwelcome obstacles to overcome.

That included a potential need to slow down the pace of construction as supply chains shifted and key construction parts became more expensive.

“I would say that’s been borne out,” said Cheryl Shindruk, executive vice-president of Geranium Homes, a residential developer in southern Ontario.