Homes selling below asking in Uxbridge, Oshawa and Durham with buyers holding the hammer

It’s a good time to be a home buyer in the GTA as the high cost of borrowing has forced many home buyers to take a step back from the real estate market, making it more difficult for sellers to find buyers for their dream home.

At least at the price they want. Real estate company Zoocasa analyzed 31 cities in the GTA and found homes selling for less than the listed price in every one of them. The most expensive homes in King, Caledon and Uxbridge, in fact, were changing hands from 35 per cent to 42 per cent less than the listed price.

Caledon’s 42.12 per cent difference between the listed price and the selling price was bested by just one other community: Halton Hills, where homes are being released at an average price of $1.084 million, a difference of 42.94 per cent from the listed prices.

Properties listed for sale in King ($3.2 million on average), Caledon ($2.36 million) and Uxbridge ($2.12 million) were actually being sold on average for $2.05 million, $1.36 million and $2.12 million, respectively.

Prices haven’t exactly declined in the GTA but sales are down 12 per cent and sellers are having a tougher time due to the lack of affordability. Many homes are sitting on the market for long periods of time as those selling are less willing to budge.

Just one market – Scugog, north of Oshawa – is actually considered a sellers’ market, though even in that community homes are being sold ($1.14 million) for less ($1.4 million) than the asking price.

Most communities are still considered balanced markets, with a few notable communities (King, Ajax and Brock) considered buyers’ markets where the sales-to-new-listings are under 40 per cent.

Even in Oshawa, which has the most affordable homes in the GTA, houses are selling for an average price of $756,906, 13.6 per cent less than the average listed price of $876,004.

Durham Region in general has relatively affordable housing prices, with Whitby, Pickering, Ajax, Brock, Clarington and Oshawa placing 25th, 26th, 27th, 29th and 31st of the 31 communities on the list for average listed prices.