Multiple offers mounting for houses under $1 million in Toronto: real estate agents

Multiple offers are mounting for houses under the $1 million mark in Toronto while prices stay steady and competition moves faster and fiercer, according to real estate agents in the city.

That became apparent for Toronto realtor Anya Ettinger when 27 offers were put forward on a Bloor West house listed for just under $1 million that sold for $400,000 more than its asking price earlier this month.

“It’s happening more and more frequently,” Ettinger, who represented buyers who put forward an unfruitful bid, said.

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Since the third week of January, Ettinger said she’s been noticing multiple offers climbing – on average, between four and twelve – particularly for houses listed under $1 million.

That price point will increase the likelihood of multiple offers, Toronto real estate broker Erica Reddy-Choquette explained.

“It’s not Toronto market wide,” she said.

“As much as multiple offers are back, the actual sale price is not actually staggering.”

Shock waves rippled through the real estate community when a staggering 85 offers were placed on a house in Mississauga that sold for just under $1 million last month.

Justin Bregman, the real estate agent representing the sellers in that transaction, said the market is much more competitive than just a few months ago, and houses are selling much faster as a result.

“Under that $2 million mark, and certainly under the $1 million mark, we are seeing a barrage of showings and offers and competition across the board,” Bregman said.

In October, November and December the market was slow and sellers were struggling to get offers through the door, paving the way for negotiations rather than bidding wars, he said.

“Anybody that purchased in October, November and December is looking like a genius right now,” Bregman said. 

But now, Bregman said it is possible that prices could start to rise in lockstep with expected interest rate cuts that many economists expect to begin in June. The Toronto Region Real Estate Board (TRREB) is predicting that the average home price in the city will rise to $1,170,000 in 2024, as more buyers return to the market.

Prior to months of consecutive interest rate hikes, the average selling price of a Toronto home peaked at $1,334,062 in February 2022 before dropping to a low of $1,037,542 later that year, according to TRREB.

“So, you have people trying to get in now before they think that the prices are going to rise more,” Bregman said.