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The headlines about Ontario’s real estate market have been dramatic: “The condo market crashing!” “Investors are fleeing!” “Interest rate cuts aren’t sparking recovery!” But do these dramatic headlines tell the real story?

Teranet, the authority on Ontario’s Land Registry data, has just released its comprehensive Market Insight Report for Q1 2025, analyzing what’s happening in Ontario’s housing market through the end of 2024….and it’s fascinating!

The report digs into transfer registrations across Ontario, covering both traditional sales and off-market transactions, to reveal patterns that often get missed when we just look at the data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB).

Take our quiz to test your knowledge of Ontario’s real estate trends in 2024. Whether you’re a homeowner, prospective buyer or REALTOR, I guarantee you’ll be surprised by some of the answers:

1. What happened to condo transactions in Toronto during 2024?

  1. Decreased by 15%
  2. Stayed about the same as 2023
  3. Increased by 20%
  4. Decreased by 5%

Answer: C – Increased by 20%

Wait, what? Despite headlines suggesting a deteriorating condo market, Toronto actually saw a 20% year-over-year increase in condo transactions in 2024. While resale condo activity hit a 10-year low (that’s the part that gets reported), new-build condo completions surged. Approximately 15,000 new condo units became ready for occupancy in 2024, flooding the market with inventory that wasn’t tracked in many traditional market reports. Of course it’s important to note that the owners of these newly-built condos made these commitments 3-5 years ago, so it’s not a reflection of current consumer psychology.

2. How much did new build condo transfers increase in 2024 compared to 2023?

  1. 25%
  2. 50%
  3. 78%
  4. 10%

Answer: C – 78%

New build condo transfers surged by a massive 78% in 2024, with approximately 15,000 new units becoming ready for occupancy.

3. What’s the largest buyer segment in Ontario’s real estate market?

  1. First-time homebuyers
  2. Multi-property owners
  3. Movers (people selling one home to buy another)
  4. Foreign investors

Answer: B – Multi-property owners

Multi-property owners have become the largest buyer segment, representing about 25% of all transfers in Ontario.

4. What percentage of multi-property owners have only two properties?

  1. 25%
  2. 40%
  3. 55%
  4. 70%

Answer: C – 55%

Despite perceptions of large-scale landlords, 55% of multi-property owners have just two properties, and another 20% have three properties.

5. What percentage of all multi-property purchases are made by solo investors (single individuals buying alone)?

  1. 5%
  2. 10%
  3. 20%
  4. 35%

Answer: C – 20%

There’s an emerging trend of single-party multi-property owners, who now account for 20% of all multi-property purchases.

6. What was the median age of a first-time homebuyer in Ontario in 2024?

  1. 32
  2. 36
  3. 40
  4. 44

Answer: C – 40

The median age of a first-time homebuyer has increased from 36 in 2014 to 40 in 2024, indicating that buyers are waiting longer to enter the market due to affordability challenges.

7. How long are Toronto homeowners holding onto their non-condo properties in 2024 (on average)?

  1. 8.4 years
  2. 11.2 years
  3. 14.5 years
  4. 17.8 years

Answer: D – 17.8 years

Toronto homeowners are staying put much longer, with the average holding period for a non-condo property increasing from 13.8 years in 2015 to 17.8 years by the end of 2024.

8. What percentage of Ontario properties purchased in 2022 and sold in 2024 were sold at a loss?

  1. 5%
  2. 15%
  3. 25%
  4. 35%

Answer: C – 25%

One in four properties (25%) purchased in 2022 (at the market peak) and sold in 2024 were sold at a loss.

9. What was the median loss for GTA properties purchased in 2022/2023 and sold subsequently?

  1. $25,000
  2. $56,000
  3. $75,000
  4. $102,000

Answer: B – $56,000

The median loss across Ontario was $45,000, but in the GTA it was $56,000.

10. Which region in Ontario had the highest rate of properties selling at a loss?

  1. Toronto
  2. York Region
  3. Dufferin
  4. Ottawa

Answer: C – Dufferin

Dufferin had the highest rate at 29.9%, followed by Niagara North (26.1%), while Toronto fared better at 15.8%.

11. What percentage of Ontario’s real estate market consists of condo transactions versus non-condo transactions?

  1. 50% condo, 50% non-condo
  2. 40% condo, 60% non-condo
  3. 25% condo, 75% non-condo
  4. 15% condo, 85% non-condo

Answer: C – 25% condo, 75% non-condo

Over the past decade, Ontario’s market has consistently had 75% of transfers coming from non-condo properties and 25% from condo properties, though 2024 saw condo transactions peak at over 27%.

12. In Toronto, what percentage of property transfers come from condos?

  1. About 30%
  2. About 45%
  3. About 60%
  4. About 75%

Answer: C – About 60%

Toronto’s market differs significantly from Ontario overall, with 60% of Toronto transfers coming from condo properties and 40% from non-condo properties. In 2024, condo transfers peaked at over 65%.

13. In Toronto, which two buyer segments dominated the market over the past five years?

  1. Movers and first-time homebuyers
  2. Multi-property owners and movers
  3. Multi-property owners and first-time homebuyers
  4. Life events and other buyers

Answer: C – Multi-property owners and first-time homebuyers

Over the past five years, almost 30% of transactions in Toronto were made by multi-property owners, followed by first-time homebuyers which account for just over a quarter of the overall volume. “Movers” are defined by Teranet as people who have sold one property and moved to another, in Ontario.

14. What percentage of multi-property owners own 11 or more properties?

  1. 25%
  2. 15%
  3. 7.2%
  4. 3.5%

Answer: C – 7.2%

Only 7.2% of multi-property owners own 11 or more properties, which has declined from 13% in April 2022, suggesting active reduction in portfolio sizes since interest rates began to rise.

15. What trend did Ontario experience in power of sale transfers (a sign of homeowner financial stress) in 2024?

  1. They reached a historic high
  2. They remained at historically low levels but showed a noticeable uptick since 2022
  3. They remained completely flat compared to previous years
  4. They decreased significantly from previous years

Answer: B – They remained at historically low levels but showed a noticeable uptick since 2022

While 2024 power of sale levels were still low historically compared to years like 2015 and 2016, there was a noticeable uptick in the volume of power of sales since 2022, indicating some increasing homeowner stress in certain regions.

16. What percentage of purchases by single-party multi-property owners were done without a mortgage?

  1. 10%
  2. 20%
  3. 30%
  4. 40%

Answer: C – 30%

Interestingly, 30% of purchases made by single-party multi-property owners were done without a mortgage, which is higher than the overall Ontario market.

17. Which age group represents the largest percentage of single-party multi-property owners?

  1. Baby Boomers
  2. Gen X
  3. Millennials
  4. Gen Z

Answer: C) Millennials

The majority of single-party multi-property owners, about 39%, are millennials, followed by Gen-X with 36%.

18. In what region of Ontario do homeowners hold on to their non-condo properties the longest?

  1. York Region
  2. Peel
  3. Ottawa
  4. Toronto

Answer: D – Toronto

Toronto has one of the longest average holding periods for non-condo properties in Ontario at 15.3 years, while surrounding areas like York (9.5 years) and Peel (9.5 years) are shorter.

19. What was the most common geographic pattern for movers (people selling one home to buy another) in Ontario?

  1. Moving within the same city
  2. Moving from GTA to outside GTA
  3. Moving from outside GTA to GTA
  4. Moving from one part of the GTA to another

Answer: A – Moving within the same city

About 70% of all movers in Ontario moved within the same city they currently owned property, though this proportion has been shrinking over time.

20. Properties in which price range showed the most dramatic rate of loss when purchased in 2022 and sold in 2024?

  1. Under $500,000
  2. $500,000-$1 million
  3. $1 million-$3 million
  4. $3 million-$5 million

Answer: D – $3 million-$5 million

While all value ranges showed elevated rates of loss for properties purchased in 2022 and sold in 2024, luxury properties in the $3 million-$5 million range showed particularly high rates of loss, with over 35% of these high-end properties selling at a loss (though transaction volume in this category was relatively low).

All data based on Teranet’s 2024 Market Insight Report analyzing Ontario’s Land Registry data.

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