This week: Toronto home prices dip under $1-million for the first time in five years, and scrutiny of NDAs to cover real estate mistakes grows in wake of iPro brokerage collapse. Plus, empty nesters are fed up with storing their adult kids’ stuff, and one property worth a look.

The last five years of home value growth have essentially been wiped out in Toronto and Vancouver, putting prices in Canada’s two most expensive housing markets back to late-2020 levels.

Toronto’s home prices hit their lowest point since 2021 in January, erasing the pandemic’s housing rally as sales volumes also continued to tumble, Salmaan Farooqui reports. At $973,289, the average GTA selling price is down 6.5 per cent from the same month one year ago, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB). Metro Vancouver’s home price index is still in the seven figures, but fell 5.7 per cent to $1.1-million since January, 2025, data from Greater Vancouver Realtors showed.

And homeowners in both cities are showing signs of mortgage stress as they renew at higher rates. The CMHC said this week missed mortgage payments are projected to steadily increase, and first-time buyers who purchased at rock-bottom rates during the pandemic are particularly at risk.

Parents often try to avoid becoming the “bank of mom and dad,” but another title is catching some by surprise: guaranteed garage. Shawn Young is among those running out of space – and patience – as high home prices and unaffordable rents keep their adult children living and storing their belongings at home for longer. “We’re stuffed to the brim,” said the 55-year-old, who built an addition to his London, Ont., home to reclaim space from the belongings of his 27-year-old daughter, who recently moved out, and his 24-year-old son who still lives in the basement with his girlfriend.

Reporter Meera Raman says the story was inspired by the “obscene amount” of things she has kept at her dad’s house since moving out into a small place in Toronto, and what she found was comforting. “Even though this situation causes tension for some families, the bottom line is that parents understand the struggles their kids are going through and want to help them as much as possible, so they’re making it work,” Meera told me.

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured vs. uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, Feb. 5.

As Ontario’s real estate regulator begins consultations to rebuild trust after the collapse of iPro Realty Ltd., attention is shifting to the errors it settles out of the public eye. While the iPro scandal became public, the Real Estate Council of Ontario has already been routinely using non-disclosure agreements to settle about $20-million in “errors and omissions” claims every year. Shane Dingman reports the thousands of claims received annually mostly stem from incomplete sales or inaccurate property descriptions, according to RECO, but NDAs shield the details from view.

While one insurance expert says it’s standard practice for all civil litigation matters, some real estate agents and consumer advocates say it keeps buyers, sellers and the public in the dark. “It’s a huge cost, and I think if consumers found that out, they should be infuriated,” said Andrea Beitel, a former iPro realtor who refused to sign the NDA she received as part of her insurance settlement offer.

Spending time curled up with a book while you wait for spring? As Goldilocks knows, it can be hard to find a perch that’s juuuust right. Here are six chairs hand-picked by designers, and what to consider before you choose your seat.