The median asking price for a house in St. Andrew-Windfields sat at roughly $4.5 million in mid-2026, with listings running from just under $1 million to $30 million. That range used to be a spectrum. As of April 1, 2026, it is a set of tax brackets.
Toronto City Council voted on December 17, 2025 to introduce graduated Municipal Land Transfer Tax rates on residential properties above $3 million, and the schedule took effect this spring. For most Toronto neighbourhoods the change is theoretical. For this one, it is the closing statement.
The new rates, in one place
The city's rates apply to the portion of the purchase price falling inside each bracket, on top of Ontario's provincial land transfer tax. They apply only to properties containing one or two single-family residences.
| Purchase price portion | Total MLTT rate | Change |
|---|---|---|
| $3M – $4M | 4.40% | +0.90 pts |
| $4M – $5M | 5.45% | +0.95 pts |
| $5M – $10M | 6.50% | +1.00 pts |
| $10M – $20M | 7.55% | +1.05 pts |
| Over $20M | 8.60% | +1.10 pts |
The provincial LTT still runs underneath, topping out at 2.5% on the portion above $2 million. City staff projected the increase would generate an additional $13.8 million in annual revenue, and Mayor Olivia Chow described the affected group as roughly the top two per cent of buyers.
Why this neighbourhood absorbs almost all of it
In most of Toronto, the top two per cent of buyers is a statistical abstraction. In St. Andrew-Windfields it is the buyer pool.
Zolo's data covering the March 11 to May 6 window reported an average house sale price around $2.39 million with a median 23 days on market, while listing inventory in June 2026 skewed much higher, with a median house asking price near $4.5 million. That gap between what is listed and what actually closes is the story. Most transactions in this pocket of North York now clear the $3 million threshold. Many clear $5 million. A handful cross $10 million. Each of those lines is now a step function in the buyer's closing cost.
For comparison, Zolo pegged the nearby Willowdale East average around $1.10 million, and Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills around $7.54 million. St. Andrew-Windfields sits in the middle of that spread, which is precisely where the new rate schedule bites hardest per dollar spent.
A worked example
Consider a $4 million detached purchase, roughly the median list price for houses in the neighbourhood right now.
Ontario provincial LTT lands near $95,475. The municipal side, under the new schedule, works out to roughly $85,000 on the first $3 million and another $44,000 on the $1 million sitting inside the 4.4% bracket. Combined provincial and municipal land transfer taxes clear $220,000 at closing before legal fees, title insurance, or the Municipal Non-Resident Speculation Tax that has applied to foreign buyers since January 1, 2025.
That same $4 million detached in Unionville, Richmond Hill, or Vaughan pays the provincial LTT and nothing else municipal. The delta is roughly $125,000, in cash, on closing day. On a $6 million purchase the gap widens to something closer to $200,000. Buyers who cross-shop the 905 are no longer doing it for lot size alone.
Every buyer's file is different and the exact number belongs in a real estate lawyer's spreadsheet, not a blog. But the shape of the calculation is now the same for every serious purchase in St. Andrew-Windfields, and it is influencing what buyers are willing to write.
The behaviour the tax has already produced
Brokers active in the segment describe a pattern they are calling threshold compression. Buyers are setting saved searches to a $2.8 or $2.9 million ceiling. Offers are being drafted with explicit "do not cross $3 million" instructions. Listings priced just above $3 million are seeing more resistance and longer days on market than nearly identical listings priced just below.
The Globe and Mail's April 2026 coverage of the spring market captured the transitional friction cleanly. Engel & Völkers broker Anita Springate-Renaud listed a four-bedroom detached at 47 Danville Drive in St. Andrew-Windfields and a separate St. Andrew-Windfields property asking $4.498 million; she told the Globe that some buyers, and even some buyers' agents, were unaware the additional tax was about to rise. Chestnut Park's James Warren described one file where the buyer specifically negotiated a March closing to beat the deadline, and another where two competing offers denied either side the room to negotiate the closing date at all.
The people who study threshold effects will recognize this. When a marginal tax rate jumps at a bright line, transactions bunch under the line. The bunching itself is the pricing signal.
What it changes for sellers
The tax does not change what a house is worth. It changes what a buyer can write above certain numbers without absorbing a real closing-cost step. That has practical consequences for how a St. Andrew-Windfields home is brought to market.
- A property that would have listed at $3.1 million pre-April may find more competitive bidding at $2,988,000, with the difference recovered through offer competition rather than a headline price.
- A property genuinely worth $4.2 million cannot escape the bracket by listing at $3.95 million; underpricing into a lower tier without a defensible offer date invites a discounted result.
- Marketing to out-of-town or first-time luxury buyers needs to price the total closing cost into the conversation early, not at the lawyer's office.
- Timing conversations with buyers who are selling a Toronto property to buy in St. Andrew-Windfields now include a real question about whether they should be buying in the 905 instead.
Toronto Regional Real Estate Board president Elechia Barry-Sproule opposed the change on the grounds that it suppresses mobility. Whether or not one agrees with the policy, the mobility argument is the one sellers should hear. The next buyer for a $4.5 million home is measurably more expensive to acquire than the equivalent buyer was in March.
What it changes for buyers
The tighter GTA market provides context. TRREB reported 6,770 sales in June 2026, up 9.4% year-over-year against new listings down 12.9%, with a sales-to-new-listings ratio around 39.2%. The average GTA selling price of $1,058,658 was still 3.9% below June 2025. The market is tightening at the low and middle, but the luxury segment continues to carry elevated inventory and longer decision windows.
For a buyer in the $3 to $6 million bracket, that combination is unusually favourable. Inventory is present. Sellers are aware the tax has changed the pool. And the buyers who do write are writing with a sharper pencil than they were a year ago.
FAQ
Does the new rate apply if I bought before April 1, 2026 but closed after?
The city applies the rate schedule that is in effect on the closing date of the transaction, not the date of the accepted offer. Buyers who negotiated closings ahead of April 1 to lock in the old rates were reacting to exactly this. Confirm the specifics with a real estate lawyer before assuming your file is grandfathered.
Do these rates apply to condos and multi-unit buildings in St. Andrew-Windfields?
The luxury tiers apply to residential properties containing one or two single-family residences. A detached, semi, or many townhouses can fall inside. Condo apartments and larger multi-unit buildings sit under a different treatment. Given St. Andrew-Windfields inventory is roughly 88 detached houses, 6 condos, and 18 townhomes at the time of writing, most transactions here are in scope.
Does moving to Markham or Richmond Hill really save that much?
Yes, on the municipal side. All Ontario purchases pay provincial LTT. Only the City of Toronto layers a municipal LTT on top, and only Toronto has the new luxury tiers. For families comparing a St. Andrew-Windfields detached against a comparable home in Unionville or Bayview Hill, the closing-cost delta at $4 to $6 million now runs into six figures. Whether that offsets differences in commute, schools, and neighbourhood character is a household-by-household decision, and one worth running with an advisor who works both sides of Steeles.
Is there anything a seller can do about it?
Not the tax itself, which is a buyer's cost. What sellers can do is price and time the listing with the new brackets in mind, prepare showings and offer strategies that acknowledge where the psychological line now sits, and choose representation that has run the math on comparable transactions since April 1. The market that existed a year ago is not the market that exists today.
If you own, or are considering owning, a home in St. Andrew-Windfields and want a clear read on what your property is worth in the current rate environment, Ample Realty Team provides discreet valuations and a full closing-cost breakdown before you make a decision. Get Your Free Home Valuation.
