New condo sales in GTHA fall 81 per cent in third quarter of 2024: report

A new condo construction site is seen in downtown Toronto on Thursday, May 25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

New condo sales in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area are continuing to drop off, falling 81 per cent in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to a new report by Urbanation.

The report, published Friday, shows that in the third quarter of this year, there were just 567 new condo sales in the GTA and Hamilton, the lowest quarterly total since 1995. This also represents a 87 per cent decline from the 10-year average for third-quarter sales in the region.

The report notes that with a total of just 3,641 units sold so far this year, a 63 per cent decline from the same time last year, the GTHA new condo market is “on track for its slowest year since 1996.”

“The new condo market is facing its toughest challenge in decades. Investors are inactive and end-user buyers currently have plenty of lower-priced options to choose from in the resale market,” Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation, said in a news release.

According to the report, among active new condo projects that previously launched for presales, three projects with a total of 1,111 units were converted to purpose-built rental and an additional eight projects totalling 2,231 units were put on hold, cancelled, or placed into receivership during the third quarter of this year.

“Over the past two years, 33 new condominium projects totaling 6,796 units that were actively selling were either converted to rental, put on hold, cancelled or went into receivership,” the report adds.

There were a total of 2,163 new condos that started construction in the third quarter, a 13 per cent dip year-over-year and the slowest third quarter for starts in “over a decade,” the report states.

Year-to-date, there have been a total of 7,200 new condo starts in the region, a 53 per cent drop over the same period in 2024, and a 73 per cent decline from 2022.

“The 88,967 total new condominiums under construction across the GTHA in Q3-2024 represented a more than three-year low,” according to the report.

Condo completions, on the other hand, are set to hit a total of 24,386 units this year, slightly higher than last year’s 24,114 completions.

It is projected that condo completions will reach another record high of 29,409 in 2025 before dropping off.

Hildebrand notes that while it “may take a while,” the new condo market will eventually bounce back.

“… conditions will gradually improve as developers hold back supply, construction inventory continues to drop, and demand rises with declining interest rates,” he wrote.