HST rebate boosts sales of new single-family homes in Toronto region, but condos still lagging

There were 901 single-family home sales in April; the 10-year average is 744 sales. Meanwhile, there were just 199 condo sales in April, well below the 10-year average of 1,673 sales. 

“April new home sales across the GTA responded to the new HST rebate program as sales showed a noticeable increase, most noticeably in the single-family sector,” said Edward Jegg, research manager at Altus Group, BILD’s source for new home data.

Pricing “continued to be competitive,” he added, with the full HST rebate reflected in the final price tag for consumers.

The benchmark price for new condos in April in the GTA was $1.02 million, remaining at a price floor, while the price for new single-family homes was $1.42 million, which was down 7.1 per cent over the last 12 months. These are gross prices, meaning they do not include the HST rebate to compare “apples to apples” to previous months, BILD said.

At this time, it’s not known how much pricing has gone down on average when factoring in the HST rebate. 

“With the buildup of pent-up demand over the past years, the positive momentum of April is expected to continue and build, especially once prospective buyers have full transparency on the implementation of the HST rebate,” Jegg said. 

On March 25, the federal and provincial governments announced they were injecting $2.2 billion into Ontario’s sputtering home construction industry with a one-year break on the HST for buyers of new houses and condos.

This means for one year new home buyers are exempt from the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax on all new homes worth $1 million or less, with the equivalent in savings for new homes up to $1.5 million.

The waiver of all HST on new home purchases started on April 1, and expanded on the existing rebate introduced last fall that was only available to first-time buyers of new homes. However, the proposed legislation for the expanded rebate has not yet passed. 

Justin Sherwood, chief operating officer at BILD, said further clarity is needed on eligibility requirements, appropriate forms, and transparency on how the rebate will work.

“Lawyers are also advising prospective purchasers to wait and see until those details are available, which is causing some people to stay on the sidelines,” he said. 

There was a total of 1,100 new home sales in April — a significant increase from the record low of April 2025, which had 310 sales, but still 55 per cent below the 10-year average. Historically, total new home sales for a typical April in the GTA would be 2,418 units based on the previous 10-year average.

Sales for new single-family homes were three times higher than April of last year, while condo sales increased by less than half.

Total new home remaining inventory in the GTA dipped below the 20,000 mark for the second time in 22 months, with 19,044 units available in April.

The inventory level — the time it would take to sell inventory on the market based on current demand — is 31 months based on average sales for the last 12 months. A healthy market level is around nine to 12 months.

However, the report warns that because sales have been at historic lows over the last year, the months of inventory should be “viewed with caution” as the current inventory is divided by the past 12 months of sales.

“We anticipate that as sales increase, the months of inventory statistics will decrease rapidly,” the report added.