Resale bidding wars are still a pocket story in Toronto this fall, not a citywide one. You can hear that listings are down and assume every good house will draw a crowd. August 2026 numbers from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) are more careful than that. New listings fell. Sales fell too. The average home took longer to sell than it did last August.
A bidding war here means more than one offer on the same listing, often around an offer date. That can still happen on a well priced home with little nearby competition. It is not what the GTA averages describe.
My April post on Toronto bidding wars explains why a slower market can still produce multiple offers on a few homes. This update is what August’s release says now that fall is underway.
What August supply did, and did not, do
GTA REALTORS reported 5,057 sales in August 2026, down 2.1 per cent from 5,168 in August 2025. New listings were 12,075, down 14.1 per cent from 14,052. Active listings ended the month at 24,482, down 11.3 per cent from 27,594. Supply fell faster than sales on a year-over-year basis.
That tighter pool did not make the market faster. The average listing days on market was 35, up from 33 a year earlier. On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales were slightly lower than July, and new listings were up from July. August was not another collapse in fresh supply.
The average selling price was $993,410, down 2.7 per cent year over year. Buyers still have a lower reference point than last August. I explain why that average and the benchmark did not move together in my post on the average price versus the benchmark.
TRREB president Daniel Steinfeld said that if inventory tightens and prices begin to rise, some buyers may have to choose between waiting for more economic certainty and purchasing before prices move higher. That is a conditional comment about supply. It is not a count of multiple offers. July had the same supply direction, with new listings down 17.8 per cent. The details are in my July GTA sales post. The August table is in TRREB’s August Market Watch.
Where resale bidding wars still show up
Sale price as a share of list price is the closest figure TRREB publishes to this question. It is still an average, not a count of offers.
- Detached homes: 2,399 sales, average $1,288,669, 97 per cent of list price, 33 days on market
- Semi-detached homes: 439 sales, average $931,665, 99 per cent of list price, 28 days on market
- City of Toronto semis: 159 sales, average $1,110,639, 100 per cent of list price, 27 days on market
- Toronto East semis: 49 sales, average $1,026,589, 102 per cent of list price, 21 days on market
- Freehold row townhouses: 437 sales, average $882,060, 98 per cent of list price, 31 days on market
- Condo apartments: 1,330 sales, average $617,593, 96 per cent of list price, 41 days on market
The east-end semi figure is the one that looks like competition, and it is 49 sales. An average of 2 per cent over list can also mean those homes were priced under recent solds. It does not mean every east-end semi had a bidding war. Condo apartments, at 96 per cent of list and 41 days on market, are the other end of the same month.
A sale over the list price on a few dozen homes is not the same thing as resale bidding wars across the GTA. I still see more than one offer first on move-in ready houses in thin pockets, priced against recent solds, and launched with clean presentation. I see it much less often on dated homes and on anything sitting above recent comparables.
How to prepare for resale bidding wars
Buyers should set a ceiling before the showing, not on the night offers are due. That ceiling has to survive the mortgage stress test, land transfer tax, and repairs. If the house only works above the approval, it is the wrong house. Book the condo status review early, and book a pre-offer inspection on a freehold home when the seller allows it.
Sellers should not hold an offer date because listings are down. Hold one when the showings and the comparables support it. If one offer comes in, negotiate that offer. Price against recent solds in the pocket, which is the same work I describe in pricing your resale listing. A list price above those solds will not manufacture competition just because August had fewer new listings.
Final Thoughts
Resale bidding wars this fall are possible on the right home and unlikely as a description of the whole market. August new listings were down 14.1 per cent. Sales were down 2.1 per cent. The average home took 35 days to sell, up from 33. Most segments sold at or under the list price on average.
Know your ceiling if you are buying. Earn attention with price and presentation if you are selling. Do not plan the week as if 2021 came back.
If you are buying or selling in a pocket where more than one offer is plausible, contact me and we can plan the next step before offer day.
