Total commercial real estate investment in the Toronto region increased an estimated 10% last quarter compared to the same time in 2025, with the biggest increases in multifamily and office property sales.
Avison Young’s Greater Toronto Investment Review for last quarter revealed an aggregated year-over-year gain of $3.4 billion, with multifamily investment increasing to $675 million from $208 million and office transactions rising to $485 million from $134 million. However, retail property investment declined to $324 million in the first quarter of 2026 from $937 million one year earlier.
Land acquisitions also decreased in the first quarter to $409 million from $437 million for the same period one year ago. Investment in Greater Toronto Area’s industrial market increased by $100 million year over year to $1.5 billion in this year's first quarter.
The 412 commercial transactions in this year's first quarter marked an 11% year-over-year increase, with momentum building through the first three months of the year. That led Avison Young to conclude that the 2026 outlook for the GTA is encouraging.
Avison Young said more completed deals will provide buyers and sellers with more clarity about the values of their assets in a post-2023 interest-rate environment.
However, it noted that transactions are taking longer than usual to complete, though deal durations appear to be moderating, and that the price delta between buyers’ and sellers' expectations has narrowed.
Demand is robust for industrial, retail and downtown office assets, but quality and location are mitigating factors, forcing some owners into receivership sales. In fact, distressed asset sales have increased for four consecutive first quarters, Avison Young noted, though these deals comprised only 8% of all transactions across the Toronto region and 4% of the total investment dollar amount.
Transactions were down across the board compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, though CoStar analyst Ben Haythornthwaite said that isn’t out of the ordinary as the final three months of the year are typically the most active.
“GTA investment activity is showing early signs of recovery,” he said. “This is an encouraging signal given the more uncertain macro backdrop at the start of 2026 relative to the first quarter of 2025. Despite ongoing trade friction, investment capital is clearly re-engaging amid higher transaction velocity."