Rising mortgage rates and tariff worries weighed on GTA sales in September — the Canadian Press report in plain words

What happened

The Canadian Press (CP, Canada’s national news agency) wrote this report on October 6, 2026, based on the TRREB release, and CTV News published it. These are the numbers in the report.

• GTA sales: 5,040, down 9% from last September.
• Average selling price: $1,006,409. Last September it was $1,060,036.
• Composite benchmark price (the price of a "typical" home): down 4.7% from last September.
• New listings: 16,500, down 14.4% from last September.
• Sales inside the City of Toronto: 1,937, down 5.4% from last September.
• By home type: townhouse sales fell the most, down 12.8%, and condo sales fell 7.8%.

The report says semi-detached and detached sales went up, but the TRREB Market Watch table released the same day shows semi-detached sales down 8.2% and detached sales down 8.7%. Use the TRREB source data for figures by home type.

In charts: the last three Septembers

Comparing the same month removes the seasonal effect, so it is easier to see how the market changed year to year. Below are the last three Septembers. Each chart comes with a table of the same numbers so you can compare them yourself.

The background the report gave

The report named three reasons for the slower month: renewed trade tension with the United States, a jump in gas prices because of the war in the Middle East, and higher bond yields that pushed fixed mortgage rates up over the past month. A brokerage president quoted in the report said that even the idea of higher rates makes buyers more careful.

Another broker said first-time buyers and buyers of very expensive homes were still active, but people hoping to move up to a bigger home waited because of worries about the economy and their jobs. The report also notes that housing is a big issue ahead of the Ontario municipal elections on October 26.

The terms in plain words

• Fixed mortgage rate: a rate that does not change for a set term (for example, 5 years). Banks set it by watching government bond yields, so when bond yields rise, fixed mortgage rates tend to rise too.
• Bond yield: the interest rate the government pays to borrow. It moves every day in the market, separately from the central bank’s policy rate.
• Benchmark price: an index for the price of a "typical" home with similar features (rooms, size). It shows the trend better than the average price.
• Move-up market: people who want to sell their current home and buy a bigger one.

What it means for GTA buyers, sellers and renters (explanation)

This explains how to read the report. It is not advice to buy or sell.

• Buyers: as the report points out, fixed mortgage rates can rise or fall with the bond market even when the central bank does not move. A mortgage pre-approval usually lets you hold a rate for a set period. Terms differ by lender, so check.
• Sellers: the broker quoted in the report saw first-time buyers active but fewer move-up buyers. How the month felt can depend on which group of buyers your home suits.
• Renters: the report is about the resale market. Check rent data separately.

What to watch next

The experts quoted in the report said the market could change with the economy and rates, but that is their opinion, and this article makes no prediction. Two things you can check yourself: the date of TRREB’s next Market Watch (official schedule on the TRREB website) and the Bank of Canada’s next rate announcement (official schedule on the Bank’s website). For the record, after this report came out, the Bank of Canada raised its policy rate to 2.5% on October 28 (see the separate explainer).