Published 7 September 2026 · By Jatin Dua, Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty
If you bought a GTA condo between 2021 and 2023, there is a fair chance it is worth less today than you paid. Resale condo pricing across the GTA was running about $859 per square foot in early 2026, roughly 25 percent below the 2022 peak, and the July 2026 condo apartment average was $636,323 with 40 days on market. That is not the end of the world, but it does mean the decision to sell, rent or hold should start with an honest current number, not the purchase price. The free AI condo value estimator gives you one in 90 seconds, and this article walks through the three choices.
What happened to condo prices
Three things stacked. Interest rates rose from near zero to a level that made the investor math — buy pre-construction, rent it out, cover the mortgage — stop working, so investor demand disappeared. A record wave of new units completed in 2024 and 2025, many of them owned by those same investors, and a lot of them came to market as resales or rentals at the same time. And buyers, who now had choice, got pickier about small units with high fees.
The result is a market where the GTA condo apartment average was $636,323 in July 2026, days on market sit around 40, and per-square-foot resale pricing is roughly a quarter below the 2022 peak. Downtown small units have been hit hardest. Larger units, well-run older buildings with reasonable fees, and lakefront buildings with real views have held better. In Etobicoke, district W06 on the lake averaged $755,641 in July while W08 inland averaged $575,564 — the spread tells you that location and view still price.
First: find out where you actually stand
The purchase price is irrelevant to what the unit is worth; it only matters to how you feel about it. Run the estimator with honest inputs — floor, exposure, view, parking, locker, fee, condition — and take the range seriously. Then write down your mortgage balance and, if you break a fixed term, the penalty. The gap between those two numbers is your equity, and it is the only number that matters for the next decision.
The three choices
1. Sell, and price it to today
If the equity is positive and you need or want out, sell — but price it inside the range of recent sales of your floor plan, not at your purchase price plus costs. In a market with 40 days on market and plenty of alternatives, an over-priced unit sits, gets reduced publicly, and sells for less than a correctly priced one would have. The units that move quickly in 2026 are the ones priced two or three percent inside the comparable range with parking, a clean status certificate and a fee that makes sense for the building’s age.
2. Rent it out and hold
If the equity is thin or negative, renting and holding is often the sane choice, provided the rent covers most of the carrying cost. Do the arithmetic honestly: mortgage, maintenance fee, property tax and insurance against a realistic rent for your building and layout, not the rent you saw on a listing that has been up for six weeks. A monthly shortfall of a few hundred dollars while you wait out a soft market is a cost; a shortfall of fifteen hundred is a different decision. Remember that under Ontario’s rules a unit first occupied after November 2018 is exempt from the rent-increase guideline, which helps a landlord, and that a tenanted unit is harder to sell to an end-user later.
3. Hold and live in it
If you live there and can carry it, the value on any given day is theoretical. Condo cycles in Toronto have historically recovered; the question is time, and nobody can tell you honestly whether that is two years or five. What you can control is the fee, by paying attention to the board and the reserve fund, and the unit’s condition.
| Your situation | Usually the right move | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Equity positive, you want out | Sell, priced to recent sales of your plan | Pricing to your purchase price; ignoring the fee and parking comparison |
| Equity thin or negative, unit is rentable | Rent and hold | Overestimating rent; a tenant makes a later end-user sale harder |
| Equity negative, unit is hard to rent (tiny, high fee) | Talk to your lender before anything | Breaking a fixed term without knowing the penalty; a forced sale in a slow month |
| You live in it and can carry it | Hold | Deferred building maintenance showing up as a special assessment later |
| Pre-construction closing coming and appraisal is short | Get the number now, not at closing | The lender appraises at today’s value, not the contract price; plan the shortfall |
What raises a condo’s value in a soft market
Not much that you can control quickly, but some. An owned parking spot, if you can buy one in the building, is the biggest add-on and holds value. A renovated interior moves the number by roughly 12 percent against a dated one, which in a soft market is the difference between selling and sitting. A locker helps a little. Beyond that, the levers are the building’s, not yours: a healthy reserve fund, a sensible fee for its age, and no pending special assessment. If you are on the board or can talk to it, that is where value is protected.
The honest summary
Your condo is probably worth less than you paid if you bought near the peak. That is a fact about 2022, not a verdict on you. Get today’s number, put it next to what you owe, and choose between sell, rent or hold on that basis. The owners who lose the most in this market are the ones who list at 2022 prices, chase the market down, and sell six months later for less than they would have got by pricing correctly on day one.
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
Are Toronto condo prices still falling in 2026?
They have been drifting rather than dropping sharply. The GTA condo apartment average was $636,323 in July 2026 with about 40 days on market, and resale pricing per square foot in early 2026 was roughly a quarter below the 2022 peak. Small downtown units have fallen most; larger units and lakefront buildings have held better.
My condo is worth less than I paid. Should I sell?
Only if you need to and the equity is positive after costs. If the equity is thin or negative and the unit rents reasonably, renting and holding is usually the better choice. Start with an honest current number, not the purchase price.
Should I rent out my condo instead of selling in 2026?
If the rent covers most of the carrying cost and you can absorb a modest monthly shortfall, yes. Do the arithmetic against a realistic rent for your building. Note that a tenanted unit is harder to sell to an end-user later.
What if my pre-construction condo appraises for less than I paid?
The lender lends on today’s appraised value, so you cover the gap in cash. Get a current estimate now, talk to your lender months before closing, and explore assignment, a longer amortisation, a co-signer or a negotiated extension while there is still time.
What actually adds value to a condo in a soft market?
An owned parking spot, a renovated interior, a locker, and a building with a healthy reserve fund and a sensible fee for its age. The first two are the only ones you can act on quickly.
Not sure whether to sell, rent or hold?
Run the estimator, then send me the building and your rough mortgage balance. I will pull the last sales of your floor plan and a realistic rent, and give you a plain answer on which of the three makes sense for you.
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.
Related reading
- Free AI Condo Value Estimator
- What is my condo worth? Floor, view and parking
- Etobicoke Condo Directory
- Should you sell your GTA house in 2026?
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these, and each was read on 7 September 2026. Where a number is a model calibration rather than a published statistic, the page says so.
- TRREB Market Watch, July 2026, Condo Apartment tables — GTA average $636,323, 40 days on market; W06 average $755,641; W08 average $575,564.
- TRREB Market Watch, August 2026 — GTA all-type average $993,410, 24,482 active listings, 35 average listing days on market.
- Urbanation, GTA resale condo pricing Q1 2026 (approximately $859 per sq ft, about 25% below the 2022 peak), as cited in the calibration notes of the jatindua.com Condo Value Estimator.
- Government of Ontario, Residential rent increases — units first occupied after 15 November 2018 are exempt from the annual rent increase guideline.
About the author — Jatin Dua, Broker of Record
I’m the Broker of Record at RE/MAX Quantum Realty, 799 The Queensway in Etobicoke, and I work with buyers, sellers, investors and business owners across the west GTA. A lot of my 2026 conversations are with owners who bought a unit in 2021 or 2022 and are now trying to work out whether to sell, rent or hold. The answer is almost always in the arithmetic, and it is rarely as bad as the headlines make it sound.
The free estimators on this site are mine. I built them because the first question every owner asks is “what is it worth?” and the honest answer starts with a number you can check yourself. connect@jatindua.com or 437-987-1925.