Should I Buy a Toronto Condo Now or Keep Saving?

Whether to buy now or keep saving for a downtown Toronto condo comes down to three things you can check yourself, and none of them is a forecast. Buy now if the monthly payment still works when life gets bumpy. You also want real cash left after closing, and a plan to stay long enough to ride out a soft stretch. If any of those is missing, keep saving. Nobody can tell you what a Toronto condo will be worth next spring, so the decision has to rest on what you control.

Most advice on this question is written for the whole country, or it quietly assumes prices are about to jump. What follows is for someone eyeing a condo in the downtown core, with a $1,000,000 purchase as the working example. Swap in your own number as you read.

Is it better to buy now or keep saving for a bigger down payment?

If you can carry the payment through a rough year and still hold a cushion after closing, buying now is reasonable. A purchase that would take every dollar you have is a sign to keep saving. A bigger down payment helps in real ways, though waiting has a price of its own, because every month of rent earns you no equity.

Start with the floor. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada sets the minimum down payment at 5% of the first $500,000 of the price plus 10% of everything above that, until the price reaches $1.5 million, where it becomes 20%. On a $1,000,000 condo the arithmetic gives $75,000. Twenty per cent would be $200,000. That $125,000 gap is the real shape of your choice.

Under 20% down you typically need mortgage loan insurance, and the agency says premiums run from 0.6% to 4.5% of the mortgage, shrinking as your down payment grows. In Ontario the provincial sales tax on that premium cannot be rolled into your mortgage, so it arrives as cash at closing. For a lot of people, waiting for twenty per cent is a long project. That is where the real decision sits: a purchase now with insurance on top, or more time renting while you chase a bigger number.

What waiting costs, and what it buys

Waiting costs rent, and it leaves you exposed to a price or a rate that moves against you. It buys a thicker cushion and more time to learn the market. Which side is heavier depends on a future nobody can see.

The present reading is mixed. TRREB's October 2026 report put the average selling price across the Greater Toronto Area at $1,024,108, down 2.7% from a year earlier, with its price index down 4.3%. That covers every type of home in the region, not downtown condos specifically, and condo buildings behave differently from one another. TRREB's commentary adds that buyers have had real negotiating power over the past year, and that monthly payments on an average-priced home are up a little on last year but well below 2023 and 2024. It also says uncertainty about inflation and borrowing costs kept many buyers on the sidelines in October. Buyers hold negotiating room today, which says nothing about whether it will still be there later. Anyone promising otherwise is guessing.

A three-part test you can run this weekend

Run these in order. The first one that fails answers the question for you.

Start with the payment. Build a realistic monthly cost for the condo you have in mind, with the mortgage, maintenance fee, property tax, insurance and utilities, and our breakdown of what a Toronto condo costs each month gives you a frame. Then ask whether you could carry it if one income dipped for a few months. Lenders judge this with GDS and TDS ratios, but your own comfort number matters more than their ceiling. A pre-approval tells you what a bank will lend. It says nothing about what you can sleep through.

Next comes the cash left over. Add up what you hold, then subtract the down payment, the closing costs, that insurance tax if it applies, and the cost of moving. If the answer is close to zero, you are not ready, however good the monthly number looks. Condos produce surprises, and a buyer with nothing in reserve turns a small one into a crisis.

Last, the building. Two condos at the same price can carry very different long-term costs, and the maintenance fee is the clearest clue to why. I wrote about what a maintenance fee really says about a building, and the short version is that a low fee with a thin reserve fund is a bill that has been postponed, not saved.

If you wait, wait inside the right accounts

Saving does not have to mean a plain savings account. The CRA describes the First Home Savings Account as a registered plan for first-time buyers, with contributions that are generally deductible. Its participation rules give you $8,000 of room in the year you open it, then another $8,000 each year with unused room carrying forward, all capped by a $40,000 lifetime limit.

The Home Buyers' Plan lets you draw on your RRSP, and its withdrawal limit is currently $60,000. The CRA says you can use it alongside a qualifying FHSA withdrawal for the same home. For a first withdrawal made between 2026 and 2028, the 15-year repayment schedule starts in the fifth year after the year of withdrawal, rather than the second. Used together, these tools turn waiting into progress instead of delay.

When the right answer is to keep saving

Keep saving if the payment only works at today's rate with no slack. The same goes if closing would leave you with an empty account, or if a move to another city or a career change might come soon. Be most careful when the main thing pulling you toward a purchase is a fear of missing out. A condo bought out of anxiety tends to feel smaller by the second winter.

Buying now is the stronger move when rent is already swallowing the money you would otherwise save. The three checks above should clear with room to spare, and the building should be one you would be glad to own through a flat market. None of that depends on a forecast.

If you want a second set of eyes on your own numbers, Jeremy Van Caulart and the team at Advantage Group Real Estate will go through them with you and tell you plainly whether to buy now or keep saving, including when the answer is to wait. The team operates under Royal LePage Signature Realty and has done more than 200 transactions over five years. The simplest next step is to book a call with Jeremy, a no-pressure conversation about your timeline. Bring your current rent, what you have saved, and the monthly payment you would be comfortable with.

This is general information from Advantage Group Real Estate, not mortgage, tax or legal advice, so confirm the details with a mortgage professional and a lawyer before you act.

Related reading: How Much Down Payment Do You Need in Toronto? and 7 Mistakes Toronto Condo Buyers Make Choosing a Building.