By Sammy Hudes
Cities like Toronto and Vancouver have seen apartment gross sales drop off, if not stagnate, lately following a rush of latest provide opening up and plummeting investor demand.
For some areas, that marks a divergence from the general actual property image. Many business watchers are actually forecasting a turnaround within the housing market within the coming months after the primary half of 2025 was tormented by financial uncertainty associated to tariffs and job losses.
It’s left these trying to depart apartment life behind and improve to a home in a troublesome spot: promote now at a decrease than anticipated worth, or wait out the storm.
“They’re sort of caught,” mentioned Victor Tran, a mortgage and actual property skilled for Charges.ca.
“They hoped to financial institution on the appreciation of the apartment within the coming years to allow them to pull that cash out and use that as a down cost to improve to a bigger house. However the cash is simply not there anymore.”
Since 2022, apartment house gross sales have dropped by 75% within the Better Toronto Space and 37% within the Vancouver space, respectively, mentioned a report final month by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. In the meantime, inventories have greater than doubled and costs have fallen in these areas.
The nationwide housing company mentioned the apartment market is predicted to stay weak as completions “stay close to report ranges and demand stays subdued.” It added there may be little proof to counsel value declines will shortly reverse “given the nationwide and world financial outlook.”
“There are specific (conditions) the place sellers have simply determined to hit the promote button and take a loss on their condos, sadly, and simply transfer on,” mentioned Adil Dinani, a Vancouver-based actual property agent at Royal LePage West Actual Property Providers.
“There’s a scarcity of liquidity within the apartment market, in order that’s stopping potential move-up patrons from reallocating that cash, or patrons from transferring up out there, probably, as a result of their condos aren’t price what they anticipated them to be price.”
A report launched by the Toronto Regional Actual Property Board in Could confirmed apartment house gross sales within the Better Toronto Space had been down 21.7% within the first quarter of this 12 months in contrast with the primary three months 2024. In the meantime, new listings within the quarter had been up 25.2% year-over-year for that section.
Rental gross sales had been down 2.5% final month on a year-over-year foundation, roughly in step with general house gross sales tendencies for the area. Nevertheless, that got here after exercise within the apartment market declined 25.1% in Could — far outpacing the drop in gross sales for different housing sorts.
That month, indifferent house gross sales declined 10.6%, townhouses had been down 9.8% and semi-detached properties ticked 0.3% decrease from Could 2024.
Toronto-area actual property agent Vy Ngo described the apartment market as “brutal,” at the same time as exercise has began to stabilize in relation to different properties.
“I’ve a number of apartment listings proper now. It’s very troublesome to promote,” mentioned Ngo, a gross sales consultant with Large Metropolis Realty Inc.
“It’ll most likely be trending down the remainder of the 12 months, (into) subsequent 12 months. It’s going to be awhile till it picks again up.”
In Better Vancouver, there have been 1,040 gross sales of apartment flats final month, a 16.5 per cent lower in contrast with June 2024. That was a steeper year-over-year decline relative to gross sales of indifferent homes, which had been down 5.3 per cent from June 2024, whereas gross sales of hooked up homes had been up 3.7 per cent.
In the meanwhile, Dinani mentioned the market value for a profitable apartment sale is finally depending on “who’s probably the most motivated vendor within the neighbourhood.”
“Some sellers are open-minded and are ready the place they need to promote and so they’re dedicated to promoting, and there are nonetheless patrons for these properties,” he mentioned.
“However for those who’re ready the place you’ve got your mindset caught on a sure value or a sure expectation and the market’s not supporting it, we’re simply encouraging sellers to hit the brakes and discover options. So that they’re staying within the house long-term, renting the property out if their monetary state of affairs permits them to take action, after which revisiting it.”
Tran referred to as it a “scary time” for individuals trying to improve to a bigger house because of the dangers concerned in promoting their present property, similar to the likelihood that discovering a purchaser might take for much longer than hoped.
Whereas he mentioned it’s safer to promote first after which make a proposal on a brand new property to purchase, that additionally comes with the danger of not discovering a property in time to maneuver.
“Lots of people are questioning, like ‘OK, when are we going to hit the underside, when are we going to see some restoration and confidence put again into the market, when are we going to begin seeing issues flip round?’ Nobody is aware of,” mentioned Tran.
“I, personally, don’t suppose it’s going to be any time quickly.”
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Canada Mortgage and Housing Company CMHC apartment market apartment gross sales actual property actual property market sammy hudes The Canadian Press Victor Tran
Final modified: July 10, 2025
