The MLS system that we use to list real estate in Ontario allows real estate agents to terminate a listing that hasn’t sold and re-list it immediately.  Whenever that takes place, the old MLS number is replaced with a new MLS number and the days on market starts fresh.

As you can imagine, this means that the DOM stats are very unreliable as it is not unusual at all to see multiple attempts at selling a home on any given street, neighbourhood or building.

The Toronto Region Real Estate Board recently came up with a way to acknowledge the inaccuracy of the DOM stat.  We now have the ability to see not just the average listing days on market, but also the average property days on market.

Property days on market, or PDOM, is what we see when we combine all of the recent listings for a property into one stat.  When we look at that, we see that across the GTA, the listing days on market is 13 days and the property days on market is 18 days.  This means that homes actually take 38% longer to sell than what is commonly communicated in stats and media stories.

Let’s look into specific areas around the GTA to see what the real story is with days on market.

Across the GTA, it takes roughly 20% to 40% longer to sell than is commonly reported

If we start by looking at regions within the GTA, we see that Toronto leads the pack in terms of the most understated days on market.  When we account for listings that were terminated and relisted (which gives us the PDOM stat), we see that rather than the 16 days that is commonly reported, the actual days on market is 22 days.  That means that it takes 38% longer to sell than what most media stories report.

wdt_ID Area LDOM PDOM Difference
1 All of TRREB 13 18 38%
2 City of Toronto 16 22 38%
3 Peel Region 11 15 36%
4 York Region 15 20 33%
5 Halton Region 11 14 27%
6 Simcoe County 13 16 23%
7 Durham Region 9 11 22%
8 Dufferin County 9 11 22%

In terms of other areas, Peel is close behind at 36% and York is at 33%.  The rest of the GTA comes in at under 30%.  Dufferin County (effectively Orangeville) is the least overstated region at 22%.

Let’s look at specific municipalities now.

Toronto Central is the most understated, followed by…Caledon?

When we look at the 33 markets within the GTA, we see some surprising results.

Toronto Central is the most understated market in the GTA, reporting a listing days on market of 18 days, but an actual, property days on market of 26 days.  That means it actually takes 44% longer to sell in central Toronto than you would think based on the market stats that are commonly used.

Caledon comes in at a surprising second place, with homes taking 42% longer than what is commonly stated.  Instead of 12 days on average, the actual length of time it takes a property to sell in Caledon is 17 days.

wdt_ID Area LDOM PDOM Difference
1 Toronto Central 18 26 44%
2 Caledon 12 17 42%
3 Newmarket 10 14 40%
4 Vaughan 15 21 40%
5 Mississauga 13 18 38%
6 Markham 13 18 38%
7 Bradford-West Gwillimbury 11 15 36%
8 Aurora 14 19 36%
9 Richmond 17 23 35%
10 Milton 9 12 33%
11 Toronto West 15 20 33%
12 King 27 36 33%
13 Whitchurch-Stouffville 16 21 31%
14 Oakville 13 17 31%
15 Brock 13 17 31%
16 Brampton 10 13 30%
17 Whitby 7 9 29%
18 Innisfil 15 19 27%
19 Toronto East 12 15 25%
20 Ajax 8 10 25%
21 Clarington 8 10 25%
22 New Tecumseth 12 15 25%
23 Oshawa 9 11 22%
24 Orangeville 9 11 22%
25 Georgina 14 17 21%
26 Halton 10 12 20%
27 Pickering 10 12 20%
28 Scugog 16 19 19%
29 Essa 11 13 18%
30 Burlington 12 14 17%
31 East Gwillimbury 14 16 14%
32 Uxbridge 15 17 13%
33 Adjala-Tosorontio 18 19 6%

At the bottom end of the scale we see a number of parts of Simcoe County.  Adjala-Tosorontio takes the prize for the least understated area in the GTA, coming in at just 6% higher, or just one day different.

It is surprising to see Burlington near the bottom of the list as well, meaning that you don’t see a lot of sellers in Burlington fail to sell and then relist.  The listing days on market is 12 and the property days on market is 14, so it only takes about 17% longer to sell than is commonly reported.

Deciphering real estate stats can be challenging and you need an expert to make sure you’re making decisions based on accurate information.  If you’re thinking about buying or selling real estate, let’s talk.