Downsizing in Toronto: A Planning Guide for Later Life Moves

Many of the people who call us about downsizing in Toronto have lived in the same house for thirty years or more. The children have their own homes, the stairs feel steeper each winter and the garden has become a job. Others are adult children trying to help a parent think it through without taking over. The practical questions are shared by both: where to go next, what the move will cost in this city and how to get from one front door to the other without a gap or an overlap. The sections below take them in that order.

When downsizing starts to make sense

There is rarely a single day when the answer changes. More often a handful of small signals pile up until the house feels like more than you need. These are the ones we hear most often from Toronto owners.

• Upstairs bedrooms or a finished basement go unused for months at a time.
• Snow clearing, eavestroughs, an aging roof or a long flight of stairs have turned into a worry.
• The property tax bill and heating costs on a large house now take a bigger share of a fixed income.
• A health change, for you or a partner, makes an elevator building or one floor living more sensible.
• Much of your net worth sits in the house and you would like some of it available for retirement, travel or family.
• You would rather spend time and money on people and plans than on rooms nobody enters.

None of these is a deadline. Some owners move the year they stop working. Others wait until a particular event makes the choice obvious. What helps most is deciding on your own schedule rather than one set by circumstance or by relatives with good intentions. When a few of these points ring true, ask us for a downsizing plan and we will sketch out the timing with you before anything is signed.

At what age should seniors downsize

No law, lender or government programme sets an age for it. The question people are really asking is usually whether now is too early or too late.

Too early tends to look like selling a house that still works well for you and then missing the space. Too late tends to look like a move made in a hurry after a fall or a hospital stay, when the owner has the least energy for choosing a new home and sorting a lifetime of belongings. Between those two, the best time is often while you can still visit buildings, walk streets and make every decision yourself.

It also helps to separate the housing question from the care question. A condo or bungalow is a place to live independently. If more support is likely to be needed soon, that is a different conversation and a family doctor or a care coordinator is better placed to guide it than a real estate agent.

Where downsizers move in Toronto

For a closer look at specific areas with prices, see our guide to the best Toronto neighbourhoods for downsizing.

Most people leaving a larger Toronto house choose one of three kinds of home: a condo apartment, a townhouse (freehold or condo) or a bungalow. Each trades space, cost and upkeep differently.

Condo apartments remove exterior maintenance altogether and put you on an elevator. They suit people who want shops, clinics and transit close by. Some Toronto areas are mostly apartments. In the City of Toronto’s 2021 Census neighbourhood profiles, 66.7 percent of homes in Bayview Village were in apartment buildings of five or more storeys.

Townhouses give more room than most apartments, sometimes with a small yard or patio, while cutting the upkeep of a detached house. Condo townhouses add a monthly fee; freehold townhouses do not.

Bungalows keep daily life on one floor without moving into a tower. Supply is uneven across the city and changes from street to street, so a bungalow search usually takes patience.

Downsizing from a house to a condo: the price gap

The table below shows TRREB’s August 2026 figures for the City of Toronto as a whole. They are citywide medians, not figures for any one neighbourhood.

Property type	Sales	Average price	Median price
Detached	550	$1,525,749	$1,170,000
Semi-detached	159	$1,110,639	$981,000
Freehold townhouse	45	$1,026,018	$962,000
Condo townhouse	120	$712,296	$661,650
Condo apartment	885	$651,648	$550,000

Source: TRREB Market Watch, August 2026, City of Toronto. On those medians, an owner selling a typical detached house and buying a typical condo apartment would free up roughly $620,000 before costs. Your own numbers will differ and a free home valuation is the fastest way to replace the median with a real figure.

Bungalow for sale in Toronto: what the figures cover

TRREB does not publish a separate bungalow category. Bungalows are counted with detached houses, so the $1,170,000 detached median includes them alongside two and three storey homes. For bungalow buyers, we track sales by street rather than rely on a citywide number.

Community medians, April to June 2026

TRREB reports neighbourhood figures by quarter, so these cover an earlier period than the table above and should not be compared line by line. Each is the median for all property types sold in that TRREB community.

TRREB community	Median price, all property types, Q2 2026
Islington-City Centre West	$594,500
Bayview Village	$622,500
Willowdale East	$630,000
Mount Pleasant West	$630,000
Banbury-Don Mills	$853,000
Leaside	$1,850,000
Lawrence Park North	$1,922,500

Source: TRREB Community Housing Market Reports, Toronto Central and Toronto West, Q2 2026. The lower medians reflect a large share of condo apartment sales in those communities, which is part of why downsizers look there. Our guides to Bayview Village, Willowdale, Don Mills and Islington Village cover each area and every guide is listed on the neighbourhoods page.

What downsizing costs in Toronto

Releasing equity does not mean the move is free. Four groups of costs show up in nearly every Toronto downsizing move.

Two land transfer taxes on the home you buy

A home bought in the City of Toronto carries Ontario’s land transfer tax and the City’s municipal land transfer tax. For a home with one or two single family residences, both use the same brackets up to $2,000,000: 0.5 percent on the first $55,000, 1.0 percent from $55,000 to $250,000, 1.5 percent from $250,000 to $400,000 and 2.0 percent above that. Both are paid when the transfer is registered.

Here is the Ontario tax on a $550,000 condo apartment, the August 2026 Toronto median.

1. First $55,000 at 0.5 percent: $275
2. Next $195,000 at 1.0 percent: $1,950
3. Next $150,000 at 1.5 percent: $2,250
4. Last $150,000 at 2.0 percent: $3,000
5. Ontario total: $7,475

The City’s tax on the same price is another $7,475, for $14,950 in all. Using the same brackets, a $661,650 condo townhouse carries $19,416 in combined tax and a $962,000 freehold townhouse carries $31,430. First-time buyer rebates do not apply to someone who has owned a home before. Our Toronto land transfer tax guide and the land transfer tax calculator work through other prices.

Legal fees and closing adjustments

Your sale and your purchase each need a real estate lawyer and each has its own fee, disbursements and adjustments, such as settling property tax already paid for the year. Our guide to closing costs in Toronto lists them and our Toronto property tax guide explains how the tax adjustment is worked out.

Moving and getting the house ready

Movers charge by volume and distance, so the less you bring, the less you pay. Preparing a long held house for sale is often cheaper than owners fear. Buyers of older Toronto houses usually expect to renovate, so a deep clean, repairs to anything plainly broken and fresh paint in worn rooms tend to matter more than a new kitchen.

Running costs at the new place

A condo apartment or condo townhouse adds a monthly fee that pays for items such as common area upkeep, building insurance and sometimes utilities. Before you commit, your lawyer should review the status certificate, which shows the fee, the reserve fund and any special assessments. Our condo status certificate guide explains what to look for. A freehold townhouse or bungalow has no condo fee, but property tax, insurance and upkeep stay with you. Our blog post on Toronto downsizing costs adds the smaller items.

Taxes, relief programmes and moving expenses

Three money questions come up in nearly every conversation with a Toronto downsizer.

The principal residence exemption. The Canada Revenue Agency’s principal residence exemption can remove the capital gain on a house that was your principal residence for every year you owned it. For any year after 1981, only one property per family unit can be designated, so owning a cottage or a second property at the same time can reduce what is exempt. Since the 2016 tax year, anyone who sells a principal residence must report basic information about the sale on their return, even when no tax is owing. An accountant should confirm your position before the house is listed.

City of Toronto relief for seniors. The City runs a Property Tax Increase Cancellation Program and a Property Tax Increase Deferral Program. For both, combined household income must not exceed $62,000. Owners over 65 qualify on age and the Cancellation Program also requires a residential assessment below $975,000. You must have owned and lived in the property as your principal residence for one year or more before October 31, 2026, the 2026 deadline is November 2, 2026 and you must reapply every year. If you use the deferral, ask the City what is owing before you sell so the figure is known when you plan your proceeds.

Can seniors claim moving expenses in Canada? Under the CRA’s rules for line 21900, moving expenses can be claimed when you moved to work, run a business or study full time at a post-secondary level and the new home is at least 40 kilometres closer to that location. A downsizing move in retirement does not meet those conditions as the CRA sets them out, so budget for moving costs without counting on a deduction. Your accountant can confirm whether anything in your situation is different.

Sell first or buy first

This is the decision downsizers weigh longest. No single order suits everyone.

Selling first tells you exactly what you have to spend and removes any chance of owning two homes. The cost is uncertainty about where you will go. You may need a long closing on the sale or a short stay somewhere else, while you find the right place.

Buying first means one move, straight into the new home. The cost is money: until the house sells you may be paying for two properties or using bridge financing from a lender to cover the days between closings. Availability, fees and interest vary by lender, so get the terms in writing from yours before you rely on it.

A long closing on the sale is the option many Toronto owners end up using. Ninety days or more gives you time to buy without carrying two homes and some buyers value the flexibility. Our blog post on whether to sell first or buy first walks through each path with worked numbers.

The downsizing process, step by step

1. Choose the kind of home you are moving to. Condo apartment, townhouse, bungalow or a move closer to family outside the city. Everything else depends on this, because the destination decides how much notice you need and how flexible your dates can be.
2. Put the plan on paper. Write down the order of the sale and purchase, how any gap would be financed and what happens if one date slips. A written plan is easier to share with family and easier to change calmly.
3. Start sorting early. This is the step that usually decides the length of the whole move. Work one room at a time and decide what to keep, give to family, donate or sell. A senior move manager can take much of this on and we can introduce you to people who do it.
4. Prepare the house. Spend where buyers will notice and skip projects that will not pay back. A walk through with us before you spend anything will separate the two.
5. List the house and match the closings. Whether you sell first or buy first, the two dates have to be set together, with a fallback if either one moves.
6. Move in. Book movers, transfer utilities and, in a condo, reserve the elevator and loading area through property management.

Our senior downsizing checklist turns these steps into a room by room list and our post on how long downsizing takes sets out a realistic calendar.

Sorting a lifetime of belongings

Across almost every move we see, the contents set the pace more than the market or the mortgage. A few habits make it easier.

• Begin months before you think you need to. Most people underestimate how long it takes.
• Make the decision first and deal with the pickup later. Choosing what stays is emotional work; arranging a donation or sale is logistics. Mixing the two slows both.
• Bring in help where it is useful. Move managers and contents sale companies work through a house faster and with less strain than family can.
• Leave photographs, letters and keepsakes until last. Duplicate dishes and furniture that will not fit the new rooms are easier places to start.

If the house is being sold as part of an estate, our guide to selling an estate home in Toronto explains how the court process, the estate trustee and the contents fit together.

Family, feelings and who decides

Leaving a house where children grew up or a partner lived carries weight that a sale price does not measure. It is normal for the decision to take longer than the arithmetic suggests and normal to feel relief and grief in the same week. Adult children can be a real help with the practical work. The pace and the final choice still belong to the owner and we will say so plainly if a family timetable is moving faster than the person whose home it is.

How our team helps

We plan the sale and the purchase together so you are never without a home and never paying for two longer than you intend. We set the listing date around your readiness rather than a season. We tell you which repairs are worth making and which buyers will ignore, based on recent sales near you. We introduce you to move managers and contents specialists and give their work a realistic place in the schedule. If you would like to talk through a move of your own, contact us and we will go over the numbers and the dates with you.

What to do next

1. Decide the kind of home you want next, since that choice shapes the timeline.
2. Get a current value for your house and compare it with the August 2026 medians above for the type of home you are considering.
3. Estimate both land transfer taxes and your closing costs using our calculator and closing costs guide.
4. Ask an accountant about the principal residence exemption, especially if you or a spouse ever owned a second property.
5. If you are over 65 on a modest income, check the City’s relief programmes before the November 2, 2026 deadline.
6. Start sorting now. Ask us for an introduction to a move manager if that would help.

This guide is general information and not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm the points that matter for your move with your lawyer, accountant or mortgage professional and get in touch when you want to plan your own timeline.