Real estate market reports are full of numbers — average prices, median prices, sales counts, new listings, active listings, days on market, sale-to-list ratios. If you've ever felt like you needed a decoder ring to make sense of it all, this article is for you. Here's what every key metric actually means, in plain English.
These two numbers both describe pricing, but they tell slightly different stories.
Average sold price adds up all the sales prices in a period and divides by the number of sales. It's useful for understanding overall market value, but it can be skewed by outliers. A handful of $5M luxury sales can pull the average up significantly even if most homes sold in the $800K range.
Median sold price is the middle value — half of homes sold for more, half sold for less. It's less affected by extreme values and often gives a more representative picture of what a "typical" home costs.
GTA Home Report uses average sold price because that's what TRREB (Toronto Regional Real Estate Board) publishes as the primary headline figure. Just be aware that a $1.02M average doesn't mean you can find a house for $1.02M in every GTA neighbourhood.
Active listings counts the number of properties currently for sale on the MLS at a given point in time. This is a supply indicator. High active listings means lots of inventory and more choice for buyers. Low active listings means limited supply and more competition.
In March 2026, the GTA had 21,596 active listings — a number that's significantly elevated compared to the 2021–2022 period when inventory regularly dropped below 5,000. That elevated inventory is one of the main reasons buyers have negotiating power right now.
New listings counts properties that were listed for sale during the reporting period (usually a month). This is different from active listings — a property that was listed in February and is still on the market in March counts toward active listings but not new listings in March.
A surge in new listings signals that more sellers are entering the market. Combined with flat or declining sales, rising new listings pushes inventory up and puts downward pressure on prices.
This is simply the number of homes that sold and closed during the reporting period. Sales count is a demand indicator. Rising sales with falling listings = tightening market. Falling sales with rising listings = loosening market.
GTA had 5,039 home sales in March 2026, up slightly from the same period last year. That modest year-over-year sales increase, combined with significantly elevated inventory, is why conditions remain buyer-friendly despite improving demand.
Days on market measures how long it takes for a property to go from listed to offer-accepted. A lower DOM signals strong demand — homes are selling quickly. A higher DOM signals weaker demand — homes are sitting.
The GTA average of 31 days is meaningfully higher than the 7–14 days typical of the 2021–2022 seller's market. Condos are taking even longer at 39 days, while detached homes sell faster at 28 days on average.
DOM is covered in depth in our article: What Does Days on Market Actually Mean?
This ratio compares the final sale price to the original list price, expressed as a percentage. It's one of the most direct measures of market conditions.
The current GTA ratio of 98% means buyers are, on average, negotiating a 2% discount from asking price. On a $900,000 home, that's $18,000 off list — real money, and a reflection of the current buyer-friendly conditions.
Market reports typically show price changes two ways: compared to the same month last year (year-over-year or YOY), and compared to the previous month (month-over-month or MOM).
Year-over-year comparisons are generally more meaningful because they eliminate seasonal patterns. Real estate has predictable seasonal cycles — spring is usually busier than winter, for example — and comparing March 2026 to February 2026 can be misleading because February is always slower than March. Comparing March 2026 to March 2025 gives a cleaner apples-to-apples picture.
If you want to quickly assess market conditions from any report, look at these three numbers first:
Together, those three numbers paint a fast, accurate picture of market conditions. Everything else is supporting detail.
Remember: GTA-wide averages are starting points. The market in downtown Toronto condos can behave very differently from the market for detached homes in Brampton or Oakville. Always look at data specific to the property type and neighbourhood you're focused on.