A first-time home buyer in Toronto who wants a listed resale home is shopping different math than a pre-construction contract. You can walk the unit, read solds for that building or street, and close on a known date. You are negotiating with a private seller, not a builder price sheet.
August 2026 is a lower-price market than last August in the segments most first purchases use, and it is also a smaller listing pool. That is not the same thing as a bidding war on every condo. New listings across the GTA were 12,075, down 14.1 per cent from August 2025. Sales were 5,057, down 2.1 per cent. The average home took 35 days to sell, up from 33.
Below is the path I use with a first-time home buyer who is shopping a resale home, not a builder unit.
What a first-time home buyer should line up first
Get the ceiling from a lender before you tour. The mortgage stress test still qualifies you above the rate you will pay. A condo fee counts in that math. A number that only works if you ignore the fee is not a number you can offer with.
On an insured mortgage, less than 20 per cent down, CMHC’s price cap is under $1.5 million. For a one- or two-unit home, the minimum down payment is 5 per cent of the first $500,000 of the lending value and 10 per cent of the rest. If you are a first-time buyer, CMHC Home Start allows up to 30 years of amortization on that insured mortgage, including a resale home. It is not limited to new construction. A repeat buyer of a resale home is generally limited to 25 years when the mortgage is insured. I cover the premium difference in my post on 30-year amortization for pre-construction and resale.
Down payment help, if you qualify, is a separate step from the mortgage. The FHSA and the Home Buyers’ Plan are the two registered accounts to check before you assume the whole down payment has to come from a chequing account.
Land transfer tax is a closing cost, not part of the down payment. Ontario’s first-time refund is a maximum of $4,000. Toronto’s municipal rebate is a maximum of $4,475, and it applies to resale homes as well as new ones. The provincial page is Ontario’s first-time refund. The city page is Toronto’s first-time rebate. Budget legal fees, title insurance, and moving on top of both taxes.
How a first-time home buyer should read August prices
Use the segment you are actually buying. The GTA average of $993,410, down 2.7 per cent, mixes detached houses into a number most first purchases never see.
- Condo apartments: 1,330 sales, average $617,593, down 3.6 per cent. In the City of Toronto, 885 sales averaged $651,648, down 2.1 per cent.
- Condo townhouses: 395 sales, average $681,447. Freehold row houses: 437 sales, average $882,060. TRREB’s combined townhouse line was down 8.6 per cent. The split is in my townhouse versus condo comparison.
- Semi-detached homes: 439 sales, average $931,665, down 5.0 per cent. City of Toronto semis averaged $1,110,639 on 159 sales.
- Detached homes averaged $1,288,669. That is context for what you are not buying, unless the approval actually reaches it.
July’s condo apartment average was $636,323. That earlier month is in my July condo buyer post. August is the list I would use now. The tables are in TRREB’s August Market Watch.
Fewer new listings did not make the whole market faster. Days on market rose. A well priced home in a thin pocket can still draw more than one offer, and an overpriced one still negotiates. I go through that split in resale bidding wars this fall. Bring solds to the offer. Read the condo status certificate before the deal is firm. On a freehold home, book the inspection when the seller allows it.
Final Thoughts
A first-time home buyer on Toronto’s resale market this fall can still be under last August’s prices in the condo and semi segments, with a smaller pool of new listings and homes that are taking slightly longer to sell. The work is a real approval, the right down-payment accounts, and solds for the building or the street.
Resale lets you see the home and the timeline. It is often the faster path when you know which property type the approval actually fits.
If you want a first-purchase plan before you book a weekend of tours, contact me and we can line up the financing, the neighbourhood, and the property type.
