From the founders: Toronto has almost stopped building condos

Condos took the biggest hit of any home type across the Toronto area in September. The average condo sold for 7.7% less than a year earlier, and 8,226 were still for sale at the end of the month, according to Toronto's real estate board.

Behind all those listings, almost nothing new is being built. Developers broke ground on just 156 condos in the City of Toronto in the first half of 2026, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation found. The yearly average over the past decade is about 7,000.

If you're shopping for a condo, that means plenty of choice right now and very little coming behind it. Use it: compare more units, and read each building's status certificate before you commit. It shows the fees, the reserve fund and any special assessment coming, things you can't see when you buy a condo that hasn't been built yet.

The library: new explainers on the Ownright blog

Three new explainers on the Ownright blog. Read whichever one matches where you are in your move.

Vendor take-back mortgage in Ontario: how it works. The seller lends you part of the price and registers a charge on title, usually behind the bank. You own the home from closing day, and land transfer tax still applies to the full price.

Extending a closing date in Ontario: how it works. Both sides have to sign an amendment, so neither party can move the date alone. Check your mortgage rate hold, which typically runs 90 to 120 days.

Gifted down payments in Ontario: the gift letter. Your lender will not release the mortgage without a signed gift letter, and it generally has to come from a parent, grandparent, sibling or spouse. Expect to show about 90 days of bank statements.

Hot off the press: tariffs and the housing market

Tariffs ran the news cycle this month, so that is what we wrote about.

RENX: A month of tariff news, and what it means for the housing market. No single tariff headline moves the market, but a year of them has kept buyers on the sidelines, and new builds and renovations are likely to feel the higher material costs first.

Market snapshot: fewer homes for sale, and a weak jobs month cooled the case for a rate increase

Our take: Last issue we said the market was loosening, because more homes were coming up for sale nationally while sales held flat. The Greater Toronto Area went the other way in September, with new listings down 14.4% against a 9% fall in sales. The bigger shift landed on October 9, when a second month of job losses cut the odds of a Bank of Canada rate increase on October 28 to roughly one in four, from about half in late September.

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