Did East End homes bought near the 2022 peak make money when they sold again?
It's the question behind a lot of conversations right now, and the usual market reports can't answer it. Average prices mix different homes from month to month. So we went to the source.
In the 12 months to October 2026, 1,568 freehold homes sold in the core East End (E01–E03, from Leslieville and Riverdale through the Beaches, the Danforth and East York). For 203 of them, about one in eight, it was the second sale in five years. That gives us something rare: a direct before-and-after on the same house, across the 2022 peak and the correction that followed.
How we sorted the 203 homes
When a house is renovated, a large part of any price gain comes from the work. We don't have accurate enough numbers on what those renovations and upgrades cost, so including them would just be a guessing game. Instead, we checked each home's earlier and later MLS listing and set aside the 87 that were flipped, fully renovated or upgraded. That leaves 116 homes that changed little or not at all while they were owned. Those are the clearest read on what the market itself did.
The 93 that sold for less lost $157,000 on average
Of the 116 homes with little or no work, 93 resold for less than the owner paid, an average of 11% below. The bigger the purchase, the bigger the dollar loss, but in percentage terms it was much the same at every price: roughly 11–14%.
Timing explains most of it. The five steepest drops were all bought between October 2021 and May 2022, at or near the top:
- −$695K −27%Detached, Danforth Village · $2.6M → $1.9M · bought Apr 2022
- −$400K −24%Semi, Danforth Village · $1.65M → $1.25M · bought May 2022
- −$355K −20%Detached, Greenwood-Coxwell · $1.74M → $1.38M · bought Mar 2022
- −$330K −23%Row house, Greenwood-Coxwell · $1.45M → $1.12M · bought Mar 2022
- −$329K −18%Detached, South Riverdale · $1.83M → $1.50M · bought Oct 2021
After costs, 112 of the 116 lost money
A sale price that beats the purchase price is not the same as making money. Buying a $1.3 million home in Toronto means about $45,000 in Ontario and Toronto land transfer tax. Selling it means roughly $81,000 in commission and HST at 5%, plus legal and closing costs. That home has to sell for about $1.43 million, 10% more than it cost, just to break even.
The 23 homes that sold for more without major work didn't gain much. For 19 of them the gain was about 3% ($43,000) on paper over roughly four years, and after costs they were down about $86,000 each. Add the 93 that sold for less, and 112 of 116 owners lost money. Only 4 came out ahead, by $14,000 to $80,000, and that is before mortgage interest and carrying costs.
Across all 203 repeat sales, only 4 owners made money without putting money into the house.
Real estate moves in cycles, and 2022 was the top of one
None of this means the people who bought in 2021 and 2022 did anything wrong. They bought when the whole market did, with record-low rates and every signal pointing up. It's a reminder that holding period and timing matter more than most people think, and that the costs of buying and selling set a high bar for short holds.
What this all means if you are...
Buying your first home: prices in the core East End are well below the 2022 peak. Budget for land transfer tax up front, and buy for a longer hold. A short hold rarely covers the cost of getting in and out.
Selling: your price comes from today's comparable sales, not from what you paid. The market doesn't know your number. Knowing your real figure early makes the decision a lot less stressful.
Owning a home you bought in 2021 or 2022: a paper loss only becomes real if you sell. If you can hold, you aren't locked into today's number. If you need to move, plan it with real numbers for both the sale and the next purchase.
Upsizing within the East End: if you sell below what you paid, you are usually buying the next home below its peak too. What matters is the gap between the two, so look at both sides together, not the loss on its own.
Christian Torok, Broker · Porchlight Realty (RE/MAX Hallmark) · October 2026
Sources: TRREB MLS data via REALM, core East End (E01–E03) freehold sales October 9, 2025 – October 9, 2026, matched by address to the same home's previous MLS sale within five years; resales within 30 days excluded. Renovation status checked against each home's earlier and later MLS listing; the 93 homes that sold for less were not reviewed for renovations, so their real losses may be larger. Cost estimates and all calculations are Porchlight's. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers currently under contract.
