Houses for less than $1 million have become pretty rare in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in recent years, but they’re not entirely extinct. A recent report compiled by digital real estate platform Wahi found that, overall, there were 20 out of 30 communities across the GTA with median sold prices (for non-condos) below the $1 million mark last month, with Durham dominating the top 10.
Six of the top 10 most affordable municipalities for single-family homes in April 2024 were located in region of Durham, led by the city of Oshawa. Oshawa boasted the lowest median price ($775,000) for non-condo housing anywhere in the GTA. Georgina (York region) had the second-lowest median price ($780,000), followed by Brock ($789,000), Clarington ($817,500), Burlington ($900,000), Uxbridge ($900,000), Scugog ($905,000), Whitby ($910,000), Brampton ($911,500), and Halton Hills ($917,500).
Out of any GTA community, Brampton saw the most single-family homes sell for below $1 million last month (215 home sales), followed by Oshawa (143 sales), and Scarborough (123 transactions).
Most non-condos that sold for less than $1 million had two or three bedrooms. Only Brock had the median sale price for four-bedroom homes in the six-figure range ($942,500).
“Out of the 4,172 non-condos that sold in April, approximately 1,176 (28%) sold for less than $1 million,” the report states.
For GTA communities where houses sold for a median price of under $1 million, the report states that the vast majority were in overbidding territory last month. However, four cities saw homes selling for below the asking price: Brock — the third-most-affordable community for single-family homes — had the most favourable conditions for homebuyers on a budget. It had a median underbid amount for single-family homes of $18,900 below asking.
This is followed by Caledon (a median underbid of $9,000 below asking), Halton Hills (a median underbid of $2,000 below asking), and Uxbridge (a median underbid of $1,900 below asking). No. 10 is the list is Milton, which saw a median overbid amount for single-family homes of $40,100).
While overall overbidding activity declined in the GTA in April, it remains strongest for non-condos in the price bracket below $1 million. All but four communities were in overbidding territory for these houses. However, 16 of 28 in the $1 million to $1.49 million bracket were underbid, and all but three in the $1.5+ bracket were underbid.
To analyze overbidding and underbidding neighbourhoods, Wahi compared the differences between median list prices and sold prices. Median overbid/underbid amounts were calculated by subtracting the list price from the sold price of each listing in a given neighbourhood. These were then ranked by the median of all subtractions. Any communities with fewer than five sales in April were excluded from the rankings.
Even with the slightly more ‘affordable’ prices above, the GTA, which is notorious for its high cost of living, is in for an massive year of price growth that will see the area even surpass Greater Vancouver’s home prices by the end of 2024, according to a new report.
