What's Your Unit Worth Right Now?
Get a free AI-powered price range for your condo in under 90 seconds — floor, exposure, view, parking and locker included. No name or address required.
Get My Free Estimate →Urbanation reports 11,653 pre-construction units cancelled in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area since the start of 2024, including 1,022 in Q2 2026 — note that is the GTHA, which includes Hamilton, not the GTA. What you get back depends on the route: a builder terminating under an early termination condition returns deposits per the agreement; a fundamental breach or insolvency engages Tarion deposit protection and the trust obligations in s. 81 of the Condominium Act; and a purchaser can rescind within ten days under s. 73(2). Meanwhile pre-construction sales across the entire GTHA were 50 units in Q2 2026, down 80 per cent.
Urbanation counted 11,653 pre-construction units cancelled in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area since the start of 2024, with 1,022 of those cancelled in the second quarter of 2026 alone. That is a large number and it deserves to be stated precisely, because most of the coverage of it is imprecise in ways that matter.
The number, stated properly
| What Urbanation actually reports | |
|---|---|
| Figure | 11,653 units |
| Period | Running total since the start of 2024, through Q2 2026 |
| Geography | Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area — the GTHA, which includes Hamilton |
| Report | “GTHA new condo sales increase over 50% in Q2”, published 20 July 2026 |
| Q2 2026 alone | 1,022 units |
Two precision points. First, this is GTHA, not GTA — writing “GTA” misstates the geography of the source. Second, I could not verify whether the 11,653 running total is cancellations only or now folds in projects previously reported as on hold. Urbanation’s Q3 2025 release split them — “32 projects and 6,981 units have been cancelled, with an additional 20 projects totalling 4,187 units currently on hold for sales or in receivership” — and the Q2 2026 release does not restate that split. So: 11,653 cancelled units, per Urbanation’s own wording, and I am not going to assert that no on-hold projects are included in it.
The rest of the Q2 2026 picture
| Measure | Q2 2026 | Note |
|---|---|---|
| New condo sales, GTHA | 702 units, up 52 per cent year over year | Off a 27-year low base |
| — completed-project sales | 535 units | More than tripled year over year |
| — pre-construction sales | 50 units, down 80 per cent | This is the number that matters |
| Construction starts | 448 units | |
| Standing inventory | 12,106 new and resale units, up 1 per cent | |
| Completed, developer-held inventory | 5,001 units, up 68 per cent | A record high |
The 52 per cent headline is almost entirely finished units being cleared. Pre-construction sales were 50 units in a quarter across the entire GTHA, down 80 per cent. Urbanation’s president, Shaun Hildebrand: “With virtually no new units being added to the pipeline, condo supply is set to see its largest ever decline in the coming years.”
What cancellation actually means for a purchaser
“Cancelled” is a market description, not a legal one. What happens to you depends on how the agreement ends and on which mechanism applies.
| Route | What it is | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Builder terminates under a condition in the agreement | Most pre-construction agreements contain early termination conditions — financing, minimum sales, approvals — that let the builder end the agreement if they are not met by a date. | Return of deposits per the agreement. Read the early termination conditions clause. |
| Builder fundamentally breaches | The builder does not perform. | Tarion deposit protection engages, alongside the trust obligations under the Condominium Act. |
| Builder becomes insolvent | Receivership or bankruptcy. | A deposit claim through Tarion, plus whatever the trust and the insolvency process return. |
| Rescission by the purchaser | Ten-day right under s. 73(2) of the Condominium Act, running from the latest of receipt of the disclosure statement, the condominium guide and the executed agreement. | Full return of deposit. This is a right, not a negotiation. |
The clause to read before you sign anything
Early termination conditions. Ontario pre-construction agreements are required to set out the conditions on which the builder may terminate. They typically include obtaining financing on acceptable terms, achieving a minimum level of sales by a date, and obtaining necessary approvals. These are the clauses under which projects get cancelled. They are usually in the statutory addendum rather than in the body of the agreement, which is why people miss them.
Read them. Note the dates. A project with a sales threshold to be met by a date twelve months out, in a market where the entire GTHA sold 50 pre-construction units in a quarter, is telling you something.
Interest on returned deposits
Where deposits are returned on a Tarion claim following termination, Tarion states that buyers receive “a full refund of all monies paid (i.e., deposits, extras and upgrades) plus interest”. Outside that route, interest depends on the agreement and on the trust arrangements under s. 81 of the Condominium Act, which requires the trustee to hold the money “together with interest earned on it”.
What none of that returns is the time. A deposit locked up for four years in a rising-cost environment and returned with modest interest is not the same as having had that money available. That is a real cost and it is not compensated.
If your project has gone quiet
- Gather documents now. The agreement with every schedule and amendment, the statutory addendum, all correspondence, and copies of every cashed deposit cheque, front and back. Tarion asks for exactly this on a claim.
- Check Tarion’s insolvency page — remembering it says it may not be complete.
- Check the builder’s status on the Ontario Builder Directory. A licence that has lapsed or been revoked is a fact you can see for yourself.
- Get a lawyer. Not a realtor. Once a project is in difficulty this is a contract and insolvency matter, and the sooner someone reads the agreement properly the better.
Holding a pre-construction agreement you are uneasy about?
Send me the project name and I will tell you what is publicly checkable about it — builder licence status, Tarion record, whether it appears on the insolvency page, and what the market data says about the segment. That costs you nothing and it is better than waiting for a letter.
connect@jatindua.com · 437-987-1925 · Book a free consultation
Confidential. Read personally and answered within 24 hours. I never share, sell or distribute your information.
Free tool — AI condo value estimator
Condo Valuation
What’s your condo
worth today?
Three quick steps. Condos don’t price like houses — your floor, your view, and whether you own parking move the number more than anything else. This weighs all of them.
Reading recent condo sales…
Estimated market value
—
$0–$0
Most likely $0 · about $0 per square foot
What moved the number
Starting from what comparable units in your area sell for, here’s what your specifics added or subtracted.
Market context
—
—
Two units, same floor plan,
$90,000 apart.
That happens constantly in condos — one has the parking, the right exposure, or a board that keeps the reserve fund healthy. A model can’t see your status certificate. I can.
Frequently asked questions
How many pre-construction condo units have been cancelled?
Urbanation reports a running total of 11,653 units cancelled since the start of 2024, through Q2 2026, with 1,022 cancelled in Q2 2026 alone. That figure is for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, which includes Hamilton — not the GTA alone.
What happens to my deposit if a project is cancelled?
It depends on the route. If the builder terminates under an early termination condition in the agreement, deposits are returned according to the agreement. If the builder fundamentally breaches or becomes insolvent, Tarion deposit protection engages alongside the trust obligations in s. 81 of the Condominium Act. Tarion states that on termination buyers receive a full refund of all monies paid, plus interest.
Can a builder just cancel a project?
Not arbitrarily, but Ontario pre-construction agreements set out early termination conditions — typically financing, minimum sales levels and approvals — on which the builder may terminate if they are not met by a stated date. These clauses usually sit in the statutory addendum rather than the body of the agreement.
Do I get interest back on a cancelled deposit?
On a Tarion claim following termination, Tarion states buyers receive all monies paid plus interest. Outside that route it depends on the agreement and on the trust arrangements, and s. 81 of the Condominium Act requires the trustee to hold the money together with interest earned on it.
How long do I have to change my mind after signing?
Ten days. Section 73(2) of the Condominium Act, 1998 requires written notice of rescission to be received by the declarant or its solicitor within ten days of the latest of your receipt of the disclosure statement, the applicable condominium guide, and the executed agreement of purchase and sale.
Are pre-construction sales recovering?
Not in the pre-construction segment. Urbanation reports GTHA new condo sales rose 52 per cent year over year in Q2 2026, but that was driven by completed units. Pre-construction sales were 50 units in the quarter, down 80 per cent annually. Completed, developer-held inventory hit a record 5,001 units.
Related reading
- Your builder is insolvent: what happens to the deposit
- Occupancy versus final closing when the market moved against you
- Reading a builder before you sign
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these, and each was read on 30 August 2026. Primary sources only — statute, regulation, and the government or agency that administers the rule. Where I could not verify something from a primary source, the page says so instead of guessing.
- GTHA new condo sales increase over 50% in Q2. Urbanation, 20 July 2026. Q2 2026 data for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, including the running cancellation total since the start of 2024. Accessed 30 August 2026.
- Condo project cancellations hit record high as Q3 sales fall to 35-year low. Urbanation, 16 October 2025. The last release to split cancelled projects from projects on hold or in receivership. Accessed 30 August 2026.
- Condominium units: coverage for occupancy dates, delays and cancellations. Tarion. Delayed occupancy compensation of $150 per day to a maximum of $7,500, and the 90-day notice requirement to change a date. Accessed 30 August 2026.
- Deposit protection before you close. Tarion. Freehold deposit protection to a maximum of $100,000; condominium unit deposit protection of $20,000 plus limited accrued interest. Accessed 30 August 2026.
- Condominium Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 19. e-Laws. Section 73 sets the ten-day rescission right; section 80 governs interim occupancy and occupancy fees; section 81 governs money held in trust. Accessed 30 August 2026.
About the author — Jatin Dua, Etobicoke real estate agent
I’m the Broker of Record at RE/MAX Quantum Realty, 799 The Queensway in Etobicoke. I write these pages the same way I work a file: read the primary source, quote it, date it, and say plainly where the source is silent or where two sources disagree. If a figure on this page has no citation beside it, that is a mistake and I want to hear about it.
I work with buyers, sellers, renters and investors across Etobicoke, Mimico, Humber Bay Shores, New Toronto, Long Branch, Alderwood and Stonegate–Queensway. connect@jatindua.com or 437-987-1925.