Monthly Market Update · Durham Region and its communities · Source: TRREB Market Watch, August 2026 (released September 3, 2026)
If you own a home in Durham Region, or you are thinking about buying or selling one this fall, here is August in plain language: fewer homes came up for sale, fewer homes sold, and prices are a little lower than a year ago. The picture is not the same in every community, though, and that is where the useful detail sits.
Durham Market Snapshot: August 2026
| August 2026 | What it means |
|---|---|
| 602 homes sold | Fewer homes sold than last August (676). |
| $819,569 average selling price | About 5% lower than a year ago. |
| 1,423 new listings | 15% fewer homes came onto the market than last August. |
| 3.4 months of inventory | Buyers have some choice, but Durham is not flooded with homes. |
| 46 average property days on market | Properties had slightly longer market exposure than last year (43 days). |
Source: TRREB Market Watch, August 2026. Year-over-year comparisons use August 2025 as originally published. Month-over-month comparisons are included where useful and are identified separately. Days on market is TRREB’s property days on market (PDOM); see the note at the end.
TMG Takeaway: Durham slowed in August, but fewer homeowners put their homes up for sale too. Prices are about 5% lower than last year, and buyers have some choice, but Durham is not flooded with homes. In simple terms, neither buyers nor sellers completely control the market right now. Homes that sold went for about 98% of asking on average.
What happened in August
Fewer homes sold, but not everywhere. 602 homes sold across Durham Region in August. That included 143 in Oshawa, 129 in Whitby, 105 in Pickering, 103 in Clarington and 72 in Ajax. Another 50 sales took place across Uxbridge, Scugog and Brock. Overall, fewer Durham homes changed hands than in August 2025, but the change was not uniform across Durham: Pickering and Whitby recorded more sales than last August, while Ajax, Oshawa and Clarington recorded fewer.
Fewer homes came up for sale, too. Only 1,423 homes were newly listed in August, 15% fewer than a year ago, and the number of homes available at month end was down about 8%. This is why fewer sales have not turned into a pile-up of unsold homes.
Prices are about 5% lower than a year ago. The average selling price was $819,569, down 4.8% from August 2025. TRREB’s benchmark price, explained below, tells the same story at 4.6% lower.
Buyers have some choice, but there is no oversupply. Durham has 3.4 months of inventory. At the current pace of sales, it would take roughly 3.4 months to sell the homes currently available if no new homes were listed. The lower this number gets, the more competition buyers generally face; the higher it gets, the more choice buyers generally have. At 3.4 months, buyers have some choice, but there isn’t an oversupply of homes. That is slightly more choice than last August (3.1 months) and less than the GTA as a whole (4.6).
Market exposure is a little longer. TRREB reported an average of 46 Property Days on Market (PDOM) in August, up from 43 days in July and last August. That suggests somewhat longer market exposure overall, although an individual property’s listing history can be more complicated. Homes also sold for about 98% of asking on average, the same as a year ago.
How Durham’s communities compare
Why we’re showing benchmark prices. Average prices can move around depending on which types of homes happened to sell that month: a few more large detached homes, or a few more condos, can shift the average even if values have not changed. TRREB’s MLS® Home Price Index benchmark tracks the price of a typical home in each community, which gives a more consistent way to see how home values are moving. It is not the same as the average price of the homes that sold.
| Community | Homes sold (vs. Aug 2025) | Benchmark price (vs. Aug 2025) | Months of inventory | Avg. days on market (PDOM) | TMG read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pickering | 105 (+6%) | $873,200 (−3.6%) | 3.7 | 45 | Holding up better than its neighbours |
| Ajax | 72 (−23%) | $838,800 (−4.6%) | 2.9 | 46 | Slower sales, tight supply |
| Whitby | 129 (+6%) | $908,000 (−5.0%) | 2.9 | 42 | More sales, lower prices |
| Oshawa | 143 (−22%) | $705,200 (−5.8%) | 3.6 | 50 | More choice, more price pressure |
| Clarington | 103 (−17%) | $742,800 (−4.5%) | 3.2 | 43 | Balanced and steady |
| Durham Region | 602 (−11%) | $811,000 (−4.6%) | 3.4 | 46 | Balanced |
Source: TRREB Market Watch, August 2026 and August 2025 Full Reports. “TMG read” is our interpretation of the combined evidence, not a TRREB classification. Uxbridge, Scugog and Brock are included in the Durham total but had too few sales (19, 18 and 13) to draw conclusions from a single month.
Pickering: holding up better than its neighbours. Pickering stood out as the only one of the five larger communities where both sales and the average selling price were higher than last August (sales up 6%, average price up 2.4%), and the number of homes for sale there fell more than anywhere else in Durham. Its benchmark is still 3.6% below August 2025, so this is not proof that values have returned to growth; Pickering is simply holding up better than the communities around it.
Ajax: sales slowed sharply, but supply is tight. Ajax had 72 sales, 23% below last August and well down from July’s 111 (month-to-month swings can partly reflect normal seasonality). At the same time, Ajax has the tightest supply relative to demand in Durham (2.9 months of inventory, tied with Whitby), and its average price held up relatively well at 2.5% below last year. We’ll be watching September to see whether Ajax sales pick back up or whether the slower pace continues.
Whitby: more homes sold, at lower prices. Whitby recorded 129 sales, up 6% from last August, and its supply is as tight as Ajax’s. But the average selling price was 6.9% lower than a year ago and the benchmark is down 5.0%. Buyers are active in Whitby; they are just paying less than they were in 2025.
Oshawa: more choice, more price pressure. Oshawa had the most sales in Durham at 143, but that was 22% fewer than last August, and its average selling price of $652,775 was 12.6% lower than a year ago. Part of that gap is the mix of homes that sold: the benchmark, which adjusts for that, is down a more modest 5.8%. Oshawa also has the most homes for sale (640) and the longest average market exposure (50 property days on market). Even so, Oshawa homes still sold at about 99% of asking, so more choice has not meant big discounts.
Clarington: balanced and steady. Sales were 17% below last August and the benchmark is down 4.5%, but with 3.2 months of inventory and homes selling at 99% of asking, Clarington is about as steady as the region gets.
Property types: one thing worth knowing
Detached homes made up about two-thirds of August sales and behaved much like the regional numbers. The more useful signal is what buyers paid relative to asking. Semi-detached homes, links and townhouses sold at or slightly above asking on average (100 to 102%), while condo apartments sold at 97% and condo townhouses at 99%. TRREB’s condo benchmarks are also down more than detached over the past year (about 7 to 8% versus 4.4%). In plain terms, the more affordable freehold homes remain the most competitive part of the Durham market, while condominiums are the softer part. That is one month’s overall result, not a rule for any one property.
What this means for you
If you are buying. There are fewer homes to choose from than a year ago, and in Ajax, Whitby and the affordable freehold segment, homes are still selling at or near asking. Oshawa and the condo segment offer more choice and have seen larger price declines. The Bank of Canada held its rate at 2.25% on September 2 (next decision October 28), so borrowing costs are stable for now. If you are pre-approved, focus less on timing the whole market and more on recognizing value when the right property appears.
If you are selling. You have less competition from other listings than a year ago, especially in Pickering, Ajax and Whitby, and buyers are still paying close to asking for well-positioned homes. If your home has been on the market noticeably longer than comparable homes, the reason is rarely one thing: review price, presentation, the competition and your property’s actual listing history together. A regional average cannot diagnose an individual listing.
If you own and are staying put. Benchmark values are roughly 4 to 6% below last August in most Durham communities, which mainly matters if you are refinancing, renewing a mortgage or weighing a move. What these numbers cannot tell you is what your home is worth: a specific street, home type or price range can be running well ahead of, or behind, these averages. If a decision depends on value, a property-specific assessment is the right tool.
Three things TMG is watching
- September new listings. If new listings keep running well below last year while sales hold, choice will tighten further. If the fall listing season brings homes back, buyers will have more options.
- Whether Pickering’s relative strength continues. One month is a signal, not a trend. A second month would strengthen the evidence.
- Ajax sales and Oshawa’s price gap. In Ajax, whether sales pick up as listings return. In Oshawa, whether the gap between the average price decline (12.6%) and the benchmark decline (5.8%) narrows as the mix of homes selling changes.
A note on reading the numbers
Regional and municipal figures describe hundreds of transactions at once. If you would like to understand what August’s numbers mean for your own home, or for a purchase you are considering in a particular Durham community, I am happy to walk through it with you, no obligation.
Julie Marticorena, REALTOR®
The Marticorena Group, LPT Realty, Brokerage
julie@themarticorenagroup.com · (416) 526-3786 · https://themarticorenagroup.ca
Browse all Durham Region market updates in the Market Updates archive.
About the data. All statistics are from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) Market Watch Full Reports for August 2026, July 2026 and August 2025, covering MLS® System transactions in Durham Region. Month-over-month and year-over-year changes are calculated by The Marticorena Group from the figures as originally published and are not seasonally adjusted; TRREB has since revised some historical data, so comparisons against its revised history may differ slightly. Year-over-year is the primary comparison in this update; month-over-month figures are used only where they add context and are identified as such. Months of inventory is TRREB’s trend measure. Days on market is TRREB’s average property days on market (PDOM), which includes repeat listings of the same property by the same seller and brokerage during the original listing period; TRREB also publishes listing days on market (LDOM), which counts only the listing that sold and is shorter (31 days for Durham in August). Neither is necessarily a property’s complete marketing history, and an individual home’s history can include relistings and other circumstances not visible in a regional average. “TMG read” is our interpretation of the combined evidence for each community, not a TRREB classification. Interpretation and commentary are the opinion of The Marticorena Group and are not a guarantee of future market performance.
