07:19 AM EST, 02/06/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Toronto home sales were down 7.9% year over year in January, or slightly higher month-to-month on a seasonally adjusted

basis, noted Bank of Montreal (BMO).

The bank will take it easy on reading too much into these

numbers given it was a frozen January.

According to BMI, come spring, two forces will meet: There should be ample new listings (+49% year over year in January), plus properties that didn't sell and have been delisted such as pent-up supply.

However, demand should benefit from a sturdy economy -- potential trade war aside -- and lower borrowing costs.

The bank suspects these two play to mostly a draw and allows for modest upward movement in both sales and prices.

While conditions vary significantly across the country, they do

so in the Greater Toronto Area as well, stated BMO. Single-detached prices were up 1.3% year over year in January, while apartment prices were down 3.4% year over year.

That's not a massive gap, but there are pockets of the

condo market, such as small one-bedroom and investor-oriented units, that are under more stress. Meantime, affordability for single-family is still tough even if supply is scarcer, added the bank.