The majority of Ontario-based municipalities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, including Toronto, have been given a failing grade for housing targets. The results stem from a newly released report by the University of Ottawa’s Missing Middle Initiative for the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON).

Thirty-four municipalities were graded across five categories related to starts and sales. Of those, 22 received an F, another five received a D, and the other seven municipalities received a C or higher. Brantford and Milton were the exceptions, earning an A-plus and A respectively.

The assessment is based on data obtained from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Altus Group, which researchers analyzed over the first six months of 2025, relative to the same time period in the previous four years.

“The findings of this report are troubling and should set off the alarm bells for policymakers across all three levels of government,” explained RESCON president Richard Lyall. “Housing projects have been shelved and the industry has hit a wall. The outlook is bleak, and we are trending in the wrong direction. We need governments to take concrete action to lower the tax burden and modernize the process to kick-start the industry. Our economy will be in dire straits if we do not act quickly.”

In the first six months of this year, housing starts were down an average of 40 per cent. Condo apartment starts over the first six months were down 54 per cent relative to 2021-24, while purpose-built rental starts were up eight per cent. Ground-oriented housing starts were down 42 per cent. In Toronto, starts were down 58 per cent and sales declined 91 per cent, causing employment to fall by an estimated 10,209 jobs.

Pre-construction sales are considered a prime indicator of the market’s health, but pre-construction sales of condos are down 89 per cent and ground-oriented sales are down 70 per cent,. Industry employment has also taken a major hit. The reduction in housing starts in the municipalities over the first six months of the year, relative to 2021-24 averages, translates into 24,195 fewer person-years of employment.

“Unfortunately, housing starts are falling, and new home sales show that further declines in starts are about to come,” said Mike Moffatt, an economist and founder of the Missing Middle Initiative. “All three orders of government must act to address the housing crisis.”