In March, a four-bedroom detached house in St. Andrew-Windfields came to market at just under $4.5 million. Toronto's higher land transfer tax on homes above $3 million was about to take effect. The broker told The Globe and Mail that the house drew buyer attention in its first two weeks, and no buyer mentioned the tax increase. Some buyers' agents did not even know it was coming.
That broker also said many buyers only learn the size of their tax bill when they close. What those buyers were focused on was a discount off the sale price. "The longer something sits, the more people feel justified in submitting a lowball," she told the paper.
Six months later, the September 2026 numbers back her up. In York Mills and the Bridle Path, the tax increase costs a buyer a few thousand dollars. The price a buyer negotiates moves a sum many times larger, and in this district, homes now take longer to sell than in any of Toronto's other prestige districts.
What the April Increase Costs on a Typical Home Here
The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) reports this area as district C12. Its map puts the C12 label over Bridle Path–Sunnybrook–York Mills, which also takes in St. Andrew-Windfields. In TRREB's September 2026 Market Watch, the median detached sale in C12 was $3,835,000.
City Council approved the new rates on December 16 and 17, 2025, under item 2025.EX28.1. They took effect April 1, 2026, for homes with one or two single-family residences. Each rate applies only to the slice of the price that falls inside its bracket:
| Portion of price | Rate, Jan. 1, 2024 to Mar. 31, 2026 | Rate from April 1, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| $3M to $4M | 3.5% | 4.40% |
| $4M to $5M | 4.5% | 5.45% |
| $5M to $10M | 5.5% | 6.50% |
| $10M to $20M | 6.5% | 7.55% |
| Over $20M | 7.5% | 8.60% |
At the C12 median, the price above $3 million is $835,000. The rate on that slice went up by 0.9 percentage points, which adds about $7,500 to the municipal tax. Applying every bracket in the City's published table, the total municipal tax on a $3,835,000 purchase comes to about $98,000. The provincial tax is on top of that.
For the City, the change is a revenue measure. In a November 25, 2025 letter, Mayor Olivia Chow wrote that the previous luxury rates applied to 2% of buyers and raised $138 million in 2024. CBC Toronto reported that City staff expected the increase to bring in an extra $13.8 million in 2026. Spread across the small number of buyers at this level, that is a real but modest charge per purchase. Other numbers move a C12 deal much more.
The Number That Moved More
In September 2026, C12 detached homes sold for an average of 95% of their list price, after an average of 50 days on the market. On a house listed near $4 million, a five-point gap is about $200,000. That is more than 25 times the April tax increase on the median sale.
The rest of central Toronto looked different that month. TRREB's September 2026 detached figures for the city's prestige districts:
| District, September 2026 | Detached sales | Active listings | Avg. sale-to-list | Avg. days on market |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C03, including Forest Hill South and Casa Loma | 21 | 123 | 96% | 15 |
| C04, including Lawrence Park and Forest Hill North | 37 | 181 | 97% | 23 |
| C09, including Rosedale | 6 | 51 | 93% | 40 |
| C12, Bridle Path–Sunnybrook–York Mills | 10 | 150 | 95% | 50 |
At September's pace, C12's 150 active listings would take about 15 months to sell. C04 had roughly five months of supply and C03 about six. A buyer with the same budget faces a much more competitive negotiation in Forest Hill South, where homes sold in 15 days on average, than in York Mills, where a typical house stayed listed for more than seven weeks. As the Globe broker put it, the longer a house sits, the more buyers feel free to offer low.
The slowdown in C12 is recent. In September 2025, C12 had 16 detached sales, an average of 38 days on market and 94% sale-to-list, according to TRREB's September 2025 Market Watch. A year later, the district had fewer sales and homes took 12 days longer to sell.
Sellers Are Listing Less, and That Hasn't Helped Them Yet
New listings point the same way. In September 2025, 104 detached homes came to market in C12. In September 2026, 74 did, a drop of almost 30%.
Active listings fell too, from 186 to 150. That is less of a drop than you might expect when fewer homes are being listed. The houses already for sale are taking longer to leave, so older listings make up more of what buyers see. A buyer touring C12 this fall is more likely to see a house in its second month than its second week, and that matters more in a negotiation than any tax bracket.
The tax hasn't scared off buyers in the $3.5 million to $4.5 million range either. In the same Globe and Mail report, another Toronto broker said demand in that range had picked up, and his recent sales around $4 million did not hinge on the tax. Buyers and sellers cared more about timing and whether they had another home to buy or sell. The tax deadline itself "passed with barely a ripple," the paper reported, and one brokerage's closings team saw no unusual rush of closings at the end of March.
The Globe also described when the tax does matter. When a house draws two offers, the bidders can't haggle over the closing date, and "the land transfer tax becomes secondary." In a district with 15 months of supply, few houses get two offers. With one bidder, the buyer has room to negotiate both the price and the closing.
Why the District Median Is Misleading Here
With this few sales, one or two big transactions can swing the averages. In August 2026, C12 recorded 11 detached sales at an average of $2,472,682 and a median of $2,200,000. In September, 10 sales averaged $3,835,800. Houses in York Mills did not gain 55% in value in 30 days. September just had a different mix of homes.
The year-over-year median shows the same problem. It moved from $3,932,500 in September 2025 to $3,835,000 in September 2026, based on 16 sales and then 10. That small change says little about values. Days on market and sale-to-list are steadier because they describe how every sale was negotiated, not which homes happened to sell.
For a buyer in C12, the useful figure is how long a particular house has been listed, compared with the district's 50-day average. A house past that average is in the group where sellers have tended to accept less. A house that is new to market, in a sought-after pocket like St. Andrew-Windfields, may still draw competing interest no matter what the district numbers say.
The Suburban Comparison
Within Toronto, the tax is a small cost. Compared with the suburbs, it is a large one. In May, Mansion Global reported that a $4 million purchase in Toronto carried $172,950 in combined provincial and municipal land transfer tax. The same purchase outside the city, where only the provincial tax applies, carried $86,475. Agents quoted in that piece said some buyers spending more than $3 million had started considering Oakville and other suburbs. They described rising interest, not a wave of completed moves.
Doubling the transfer tax is a real cost, but it is paid once. On a home listed near $4 million, it is still smaller than a typical five-point discount in today's C12 market. A buyer comparing York Mills with the 905 should weigh both numbers. The tax difference is fixed. The discount depends on how long a house has been listed and how many other buyers want it.
Questions Buyers Ask About This Market
Does the April 2026 rate apply to the whole price? No. Each rate applies only to the portion of the price inside its bracket, as the City's rate table shows. On a home just above $3 million, only a small slice is taxed at 4.40%.
Did buyers rush to close before April 1? Agents quoted by The Globe and Mail said the deadline passed quietly. One brokerage's closings team saw no unusual spike at the end of March compared with the year before.
When will the October numbers come out? TRREB released its September 2026 report on October 6, 2026. The October report will show whether C12's 50-day average held into the late-fall market.
This article is general information and not legal, tax or financial advice. Buyers should confirm their own land transfer tax and closing costs with their lawyer or accountant.
In a district with 15 months of supply, a C12 home's price depends mostly on how long it has been listed and how many buyers are bidding on it. Barry Cohen Homes tracks both for every C12 listing. Schedule a confidential consultation to see where a specific York Mills or Bridle Path home stands before you make an offer.
