New condominium-apartment sales in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) continued to break 30-year lows in the second quarter, says a new report from Urbanation.

A total of just 502 units were sold during the second quarter, marking a 10% drop from the previous quarter and a 69% year-over-year decline, according to the report.

Activity was 91% below the 10-year average for the typically busy spring quarter.

“The market has entered a phase of the downturn that is really starting to wreak havoc,” said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation. Project cancellations are mounting, construction starts are collapsing, jobs are being lost, buyers are losing a lot of money, and developers are facing difficulties with closings.

“While a reduction to deliveries next year should help to alleviate some pressure, the near-term will remain very challenging.”

Developers launched only three projects (891 units) during the quarter, while cancelling four others (719 units). Since early 2024, a total of 21 projects slated to contain 4,412 units have been cancelled, with nine converting to rental.

Despite a slight annual decline in overall unsold inventory to 24,045 units, completed-but-unsold condo supply hit a record-high 2,478 units in the second quarter, up 102% from a year earlier. At the current pace of sales, this amounts to 60 months of standing inventory.

Asking prices for completed developer-held inventory averaged $1,212 per square foot (psf), down 6% year-over-year and 16% below the 2023 peak. Resale units in recently registered buildings averaged $903 psf, $284 below the average presale price of $1,187 psf for units that reached occupancy in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, condo construction continues to slow. In the second quarter, starts dropped 57% from a year earlier and 84% compared to two years ago. The number of units under construction has declined to 64,623 — down more than 41,000 from the 2023 peak.

“It’s a really bad time for the industry, the market has gone from bad to terrible,” Hildebrand told The Toronto Star. “The sentiment is so bad right now things won’t improve any time soon.”

Pictured: Toronto

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