Durham is still the GTA's value market, and in August it stayed one of the faster-moving ones. The headline numbers hide a real split, though. Freehold houses are only a little below last year's prices. Townhouses and condo apartments have fallen roughly twice as far.
We counted 607 sales across Durham that went firm in August, with a median price of $768,000 and an average of $830,132. The typical home sold for 97.7 per cent of its final asking price after a median of 21 days, and one sale in four went at or over asking. A year ago it was 669 sales at a median of $805,000. Some late-reported August sales are still arriving in the system, so treat the count as a floor. The prices won't move much.
The better measure of value is the MLS® Home Price Index, which prices a typical home the same way every month. Durham's composite benchmark was $811,000 in August, down 4.6 per cent from a year earlier and almost exactly in line with the GTA (−4.5%).
The split: houses vs townhouses and apartments
Across Durham, the benchmark for a single-family detached home was down 4.4 per cent on the year. Townhouses were down 7.6 per cent and apartments 7.3 per cent. The pattern repeats in every city:
| City | Detached | Townhouse | Apartment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ajax | $920,200 · −4.3% | $609,400 · −6.5% | $445,500 · −8.1% |
| Pickering | $1,074,700 · −3.7% | $592,500 · −8.1% | $474,800 · −7.4% |
| Whitby | $986,000 · −4.7% | $584,000 · −7.8% | $504,700 · −5.7% |
| Oshawa | $756,500 · −5.6% | $496,100 · −8.2% | $399,300 · −9.8% |
| Clarington | $831,400 · −5.1% | $537,800 · −6.6% | $452,000 · −8.1% |
MLS® HPI benchmark price, August 2026, and change from August 2025. "Detached" is TRREB's single-family detached benchmark.
If you own a townhouse or condo and plan to move up to a detached home, this cuts both ways. You get less for what you sell, but the house you're buying has come down too, by about the same number of dollars. In Ajax the detached benchmark is about $41,000 lower than a year ago, and the townhouse about $42,500 lower. The gap between them has barely moved.
City by city
Right-hand figure is the August MLS® HPI composite benchmark. Sales, median price and days are from sales that went firm in August 2026. Supply is homes for sale today divided by the average monthly sales from June to August.
Whitby is the tightest market in Durham, with under three months of supply, and it sold as fast as anywhere (median 18 days). Ajax matched that speed. Oshawa has the most homes to choose from, at four months of supply, and its benchmark fell the most (−5.8%), led by apartments at nearly −10%. Pickering held its value best (−3.6%) but took the longest to sell, a sign that buyers there are paying up but taking their time.
What it means for you
If you're selling a detached home in Ajax or Whitby, you're in one of the better seats in the GTA right now: low supply, quick sales, and a benchmark only about 4 to 5 per cent below last year.
If you're selling a townhouse or condo, especially in Oshawa, pricing matters more than it has in years. You're competing with more listings, and buyers can see the discounts. A sharp price at launch will beat a price cut later.
If you're buying, the best value in the region is in the segments that fell hardest. Be ready to act quickly on detached homes in Whitby and Ajax, where the good ones aren't waiting around.
City averages can only tell you so much. The number that decides your price is what homes like yours, on streets like yours, have sold for in the last few months. That's the analysis we do for every client.
Sales counts, prices, sold-to-asking ratios, days on market and supply are produced by The Renavu Team from TRREB MLS® data for sales that went firm between 1 and 31 August 2026 (compared with August 2025) and from active listings on 22 September 2026. They are not official statistics of, or endorsed by, TRREB or PropTx, and are deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Benchmark prices are from the TRREB/Altus MLS® Home Price Index, August 2026. This article is general market information, not financial, mortgage or investment advice.