Toronto’s real estate market has shifted. Average house prices sit at $1,102,972, while 5,679 new listings appeared in the last 28 days. Properties now sell for 98% of the asking price on average, giving buyers more negotiating power than they’ve had in years. Learning to interpret MLS listings properly can save you thousands of dollars and help you spot genuine opportunities that other buyers miss.
The Language Behind Status Codes
MLS listings use specific codes that tell you more about a property than the description ever will. When you see “Sc” next to a listing, the property sold conditionally. The seller accepted an offer with conditions attached, but those conditions haven’t been met yet. The deal isn’t firm. If the buyer can’t secure financing or fails their home inspection, that property comes back on the market.
“Pc” means the price changed. Sellers rarely drop prices without good reason. Multiple price drops show you the seller needs to move the property. “Occup” tells you if someone lives there. Tenant-occupied properties need 24-hour notice for showings, which often means you’re dealing with an investor selling rather than a homeowner. Investors typically have different motivations and may accept lower offers if they need to exit the investment quickly.
DOM Numbers Tell the Real Story
Days on Market (DOM) reveals what sellers don’t want you to know. Toronto homes currently take a median of 27 days to sell, though the average stretches to 51 days across the Greater Toronto Area. Any property sitting longer than these benchmarks deserves your attention for the right reasons.
Properties with high DOM often have problems. Maybe the price is too high. Maybe the basement floods. Maybe the seller rejected reasonable offers earlier and now regrets it. But here’s what matters: sellers with properties on the market for 60, 90, or 120 days become increasingly flexible. They’ve already carried months of mortgage payments, property taxes, and maintenance costs. Every additional day costs them money.
Why Condos Sit Longer Than Houses
Condo listings tell a different story than houses right now. The average condo price dropped 8.1% year-over-year to $563,100 in September 2025. May 2025 saw 30,964 active condo listings, and June hit 31,603. That’s a 62% increase from 2023’s peak. The condo market has 6.8 months of inventory, firmly placing it in buyer’s market territory.
When you see a condo that’s been listed for two months, the seller knows these numbers. They know buyers have thousands of other options. They know prices keep dropping. This knowledge makes them receptive to offers below asking price. The longer that condo sits, the more willing they become to negotiate on price, closing dates, and included appliances or parking spots.
Finding Hidden Information Through Technology
Reading between the lines gets easier when you have the right tools. Wahi provides buyers with data that used to be available only to real estate agents. The platform shows you 20 years of sold prices in any Toronto neighbourhood, helping you understand if that $1.2 million asking price makes sense or if the seller is testing the market.
Wahi reveals the true days-on-market for any property. Agents sometimes terminate listings and relist them to reset the DOM counter. A property showing 15 days on MLS might have actually been sitting for three months. Wahi’s platform shows you the complete history, including previous listing attempts and price changes. The app sends notifications when sellers drop their prices, so you know exactly when to make your move. You can also see comparable homes that sold recently, schools nearby, and neighbourhood amenities all on one map. The platform’s AI analyzes buyer demand and price comparisons to help you understand if you’re looking at a good deal or an overpriced property. Their home value estimates come with 90% accuracy, giving you another data point for negotiations.
If you buy through a Wahi Realtor, you get up to 1% cashback on the purchase price after closing. Buying and selling with them gets you up to 1.5% cashback. On a $700,000 Toronto townhouse, that’s $7,000 to $10,500 back in your pocket.
Decoding Price Reduction Patterns
Price changes follow patterns that reveal seller psychology. The first price drop usually comes after 30 to 45 days. Sellers still believe their property is worth close to the original asking price, so they drop it by 2% to 3%. This small reduction rarely generates new interest.
The second price drop tells you more. If it happens within two weeks of the first drop and cuts another 3% to 5%, the seller is getting nervous. They’re watching similar properties sell while theirs sits idle. By the third price reduction, especially if it’s a large cut of 5% or more, you’re dealing with a motivated seller who needs to close the deal. Properties with three or more price drops often sell for 10% to 15% below the original asking price.
Reading Property Type Signals
Different property types behave differently in Toronto’s current market. Detached homes dropped 4.5% year-over-year to average $1,359,030. Townhouses fell 6.6% to $719,200. Semi-detached properties, however, still sell for 111% of asking price on average. This tells you something important about buyer behavior and seller strategies.
Semi-detached homes attract fierce competition because they offer more space than condos but cost less than fully detached houses. Sellers price them low on purpose to generate bidding wars. When you see a semi-detached home lingering on the market for 40 or 50 days, something’s wrong. Either the seller got greedy with the asking price, or the property has serious issues. Both scenarios create opportunities for aggressive negotiation.
Seasonal Listing Strategies
Timing affects how you should interpret listings. DOM consistently increases in October and November, then drops in January and February. Properties listed in November face the slowest market conditions of the year. Sellers listing during these periods often have pressing reasons to sell. Job relocations, divorces, estate settlements, or financial pressure force them to list during suboptimal times.
A property listed in late November with an aggressive asking price suggests an inexperienced seller or desperate circumstances. Properties listed in these slower periods with realistic prices often indicate sellers who’ve done their homework and know they need to price competitively to attract winter buyers.
Understanding Inventory Context
Toronto currently has 12,573 homes for sale, including 3,129 houses, 6,202 condos, and 2,117 townhouses. The sales-to-new-listings ratio sits at 29%, firmly in buyer’s market territory. Any ratio under 40% means buyers have leverage. Sellers know this ratio. They see the inventory numbers climbing. They understand that buyers have choices.
The months of inventory metric adds another layer. At 5.4 months for the overall market, Toronto sits in balanced territory, but this varies by property type. Houses move faster than condos. New builds sit longer than resales. Understanding these nuances helps you gauge how much negotiating power you really have.
The Reality of Current Affordability
TRREB’s Chief Information Officer Jason Mercer notes that average-income households still struggle to afford average-priced homes, even with lower borrowing costs and selling prices. This affordability gap affects how sellers position their properties. Listings emphasizing “potential” or “investment opportunity” often mean the property needs work. Sellers know most buyers want move-in ready homes but can’t afford them at current prices.
Properties marketed as “perfect for first-time buyers” or “great starter home” often come with compromises. Maybe the location isn’t ideal. Maybe the layout needs updating. Maybe the maintenance was deferred. Reading these coded messages helps you understand what you’re really buying and what repairs or renovations you’ll face after closing.
Making Sense of Market Statistics
The numbers paint a picture if you know how to look at them. September 2025 saw 5,592 home sales through TRREB’s MLS System, up 8.5% from September 2024. New listings rose 4% to 19,260. More sales and more inventory seems contradictory, but it shows a market finding balance after years of extremes.
Asking prices decreased 2.39% since last October while inventory increased 11.41%. This combination gives buyers breathing room to view multiple properties, arrange inspections, and negotiate terms. Gone are the days of making offers without conditions after a five-minute viewing. Sellers who haven’t adjusted their expectations to this new reality end up with stale listings that require deep price cuts to move.
Reading Toronto MLS listings requires understanding the codes, recognizing the patterns, and knowing the current market context. Every listing tells a story through its DOM, price history, and status changes. The sellers who understand the market price accordingly and sell quickly. Those who don’t provide opportunities for informed buyers to negotiate better deals. Armed with the right information and tools, you can spot these opportunities and make offers that work in your favor.