Toronto areas where people got the best deals on homes this year

This year was a rough one for Toronto area real estate, with developers and other sellers panicking as sales fell off a cliff, all as buyers remained in holding patterns trying to wait out the market amid a lousy economy.

A downslide persisted throughout the year, with condo sales in particular plummeting to worse and worse lows not seen for decades, all while the number of homes sitting on the market shot to astounding highs that made many realize that our alleged housing supply crisis is more a housing affordability crisis.

In this rare time for the region, many areas swung to buyer’s markets, with more wiggle room for price negotiations as sellers got increasingly desperate. Many were forced to sell at huge losses for properties that would historically have been lucrative.

Companies like real estate agency Wahi regularly looked into what houses and condos were listed for versus what they actually sold for, giving insight into how much of the GTA — and where, exactly — was being overbid, underbid and going for asking price each month.

Looking back on the year as a whole, the neighbourhoods they found to be the most underbid in 2024, and thus the most likely spots for a deal compared to list price, were:

• Eastlake in Oakville (which spent the most months in the top five places for underbidding)
• Lakeview in Mississauga
• Huttonville in Brampton

Both of the latter were underbid by the most in a single month, by 11 per cent in January and June, respectively.

Additionally, Wahi found what they considered to be the overall most affordable areas based on median sale price over the course of the year:

• the Elms in Etobicoke, where the typical home went for $499,500
• Queen Street Corridor in Brampton, with a price of $528,500
• Flemingdon Park, Toront0 ($535,000)
• Thorncliffe Park, Toronto ($544,500)
• Bermondsey, North York ($575,000).

It is, of course, worth noting that condo-heavier neighbourhoods are going to be cheaper than ones dominated by single family homes, while communities with pricier detached homes are most likely to be underbid by the most significant amounts.

As the impacts of lower interest rates started to be set in during late fall, activity has ticked up and realtors are projecting (read: hoping for) more sales and price growth as we move into the New Year.