The Toronto region real estate market may be down, but with an average price of just over a million dollars as of February, home ownership can still seem out of reach for many.
There are a few pockets where prices are significantly lower though, according to a new report from Canadian digital real estate platform and brokerage Wahi, with median prices of under $500,000.
The cheapest neighbourhood is Brampton’s condo-heavy Queen Street Corridor, according to the report released this week, with a median sold price of just over $400,000. North York’s Flemingdon Park and west Toronto’s Wallace Emerson also made the list of cheapest neighbourhoods.
Wahi economist Ryan McLaughlin said the more affordable neighbourhoods have seen more new condos, across the board.
“We built a lot of small studio and one-bedroom condos across the GTA and those are not distributed evenly,” he said. “I think that supply shock is going to be felt in these types of neighbourhoods.”
As well, places like Brampton have been more impacted by recent restrictions on immigration, he added.
The data is sourced from February sales from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, and takes into account all housing types (from large single family homes to small condos). It uses the median instead of the average price so that it’s not skewed by outliers.
There are a number of condos that have been built in Brampton’s Queen Street Corridor, which push down the prices, said Sumit Sharda, a broker with Re/Max Realty Services Inc., in Brampton. There are also older modest detached and semi-detached homes. For a first-time buyer, “it’s the place,” he said, adding it’s a “great, safe neighbourhood.”
Flemingdon Park, east of the Don Valley Parkway in North York, takes the number two most affordable spot. The median price there is just over $450,000, according to the report.
Core Mississauga, which includes condos at Square One Shopping Centre, Wallace Emerson near the Junction in old Toronto, and Markham’s Wismer, a suburban neighbourhood with a mix of properties, round out the top five least expensive neighbourhoods.
“Wallace Emerson is interesting,” Wahi’s McLaughlin said. “If you’re looking for a more affordable spot, within a 30-minute bike ride to downtown Toronto, that could be a place to think about.”
On the flip side, Eastlake in Oakville is the most expensive neighbourhood, with a median price of almost $2.5 million, followed by Kingsway South in Etobicoke (about $2.3 million).
Three established North York neighbourhoods that offer plenty of large detached homes, make up the rest of the top five least affordable neighbourhoods: Ledbury Park ($2.28 million), Hoggs Hollow ($2.27 million) and York Mills ($2.14 million).
However, even the most affordable neighbourhoods can still have expensive homes.
Victor Tran, a mortgage and real estate expert with Rates.ca, noted that several semis and detached homes in Wallace Emerson, for example, have sold for much more than $500,000.
“Generally, affordability is still an issue,” he said, despite price drops. Interest rates also factor into the equation, as they impact mortgage payments.
Rates are lower than they were in 2023, Tran said, after record lows during the pandemic. But “the conflict in the Middle East has pushed fixed rates up again,” he said.
With so much instability in the world, he added, “there’s still a lot of fear to purchase a home right now.”
At the same time, rents have come down.
“So it’s not the end of the world if someone is not looking to buy anymore. There are lots of options out there for people looking for a new place to live.”
