Downsize This Winter or Wait for Spring? What Last Year's Bungalow Sales Show

There's no one right answer, and anyone who gives you one without asking what you're buying is guessing. Marcus Umana puts it simply: "Your bungalow determines your downsize." The season matters, but what matters more is how often the bungalow you want actually comes up for sale.

Here's what happened to GTA bungalows last winter and last spring, and how Marcus uses those numbers with downsizers right now.

What last winter and spring looked like

These numbers cover every bungalow sale in Toronto, York, Peel, Halton and Durham regions, December 2025 to February 2026 compared with April to June 2026.

Source: TRREB MLS® data, bungalow sales by sold date and new listings by contract date, December 2025 to June 2026. "Middle price" means half sold for more and half for less.

Two things jump out:

1. Selling was easier in spring. Bungalows sold in a median of 16 days instead of 24, for about a point more of their asking price, and the middle price was $25,000 higher ($30,000 for detached). That's one winter and one spring, not a promise for this year, and part of the gap is simply which homes happened to sell.
2. Buying had more than twice the choice in spring. 5,614 new bungalow listings came out from April to June, compared with 2,473 from December to February.

It wasn't the same everywhere. In York Region the middle sold price was actually lower in spring ($995,000) than in winter ($1,050,000), and in Halton it was about the same. Durham followed the pattern most clearly: 14 days to sell in spring vs 26 in winter, and $765,000 vs $744,900.

"I just told a client to wait"

Marcus told one of his clients this fall to hold off on downsizing until spring. In his words: "I just told a client to put off downsizing for this time. There's no condos that they're looking for."

The bigger problem was that the exact home they wanted wasn't for sale, and selling in winter would have meant two compromises at once: a slower sale on their own house, and "a condo that they don't even want."

Another client wanted to downsize right away, before winter. She had a very specific dream: a condo in a walkable spot, with a grocery store right on the main floor. In the two buildings that fit, there was nothing for sale.

That's what Marcus means when he says the bungalow decides the downsize. "Some condos are always going to be available. Some are only going to be available a few times a year." The same goes for bungalows. In the last week of October alone, 103 raised bungalows came on the market across the GTA, Simcoe and Dufferin, but only 33 bungalows of any style had room for three cars in the garage.

When winter makes sense

Waiting isn't always the answer either. Last winter, 1,170 GTA bungalows still sold, and 392 of them sold within two weeks. A few reasons to move now:

• The right one is on the market today. "The right one comes and goes. And the right one is coming and going only a few times a year." If it's listed now, waiting for spring can mean watching it sell to someone else.
• Buyers paid a little less of the asking price. In winter, the median sale came in at 96.4% of the asking price, and fewer sold over asking (18% vs 23%).
• Your own timing matters more. If your family, your health or your finances say now, a few weeks on the market matters less.

And one honest rule from Marcus: if you don't want to move in winter, don't buy in winter, unless the right one comes up.

How to decide: look at the buy and the sell together

Marcus doesn't start with the season. He starts with the two sides of the move. "We're looking at the buy and we're looking at the sell objectively."

1. The buy. How often has a bungalow like yours come up in your towns over the last few years? "It's a statistics game," he says. "We look at the market data over the last few years and we find how many bungalows that match what you're looking for." If your bungalow comes up every week, you can afford to be patient. If it comes up twice a year, you need to be ready.
2. The sell. How fast do homes like yours sell, and for what, in winter compared with spring? Some homes sell in days in any season. Some are niche and take longer.
3. Put the numbers side by side. What you'd get, what you'd pay, the moving and closing costs, and what's left. Then decide.

The goal is "being prepared for that moment when that bungalow comes up on the market," so you're not deciding in a rush.

Start with your numbers

• Run your numbers with the downsizing calculator: what your home might sell for, what a bungalow costs and what's left.
• Get a custom bungalow map so you see your kind of bungalow the day it lists, winter or spring.
• See what's listing right now in New Bungalow Listings This Week, or browse All Toronto Bungalows for Sale, All York Region Bungalows, All Peel Region Bungalows, All Halton Region Bungalows and All Durham Region Bungalows.

Not sure whether to move this winter or wait? Book a downsizing consultation and we'll look at your buy and your sell together. Or call Marcus at (226) 907-4448.

Source: TRREB MLS® data. Bungalow sales by sold date and new listings by contract date, December 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026 (winter) and April 1 to June 30, 2026 (spring), in Toronto, York, Peel, Halton and Durham. Last-week figures: new listings with a contract date of October 26 to November 1, 2026 in Toronto, York, Peel, Halton, Durham, Simcoe and Dufferin. All bungalow styles (Bungalow, Raised Bungalow, Bungaloft), freehold and condo. Data is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Past sales are not a prediction of future prices. Client stories are shared without names or details that identify anyone.

Marcus Umana, REALTOR®, Real Broker Ontario Ltd., Brokerage. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers already under contract.