Scarborough is Toronto's most affordable entry — and still pays Toronto's double land transfer tax
Scarborough's July 2026 average selling price, across TRREB districts E04 through E11, was $782,615 — meaningfully below the City of Toronto average of $1,010,836, and below several Durham municipalities that sit further out. That affordability is the market's defining feature. What catches buyers is that being cheaper does not make it cheaper to close: Scarborough is inside the City of Toronto, so a purchase here pays Ontario land transfer tax and Toronto's municipal land transfer tax, which roughly doubles the bill and is due in cash on closing rather than financeable into the mortgage. A comparable home in Ajax or Pickering pays the provincial tax only. First-time buyers can claim both rebates — up to $4,000 provincially and up to $4,475 municipally — and at Scarborough price points those two together can erase most or all of the tax, which is precisely why the rebate paperwork matters more here than in a market where the municipal tax does not exist. On the mortgage side, $782,615 sits comfortably under the $1.5-million insurance ceiling, so the tiered minimum applies: 5% on the first $500,000 plus 10% on the balance, roughly $53,262 down, with the default-insurance premium financed onto the loan. First-time buyers and new-construction purchases can also use a 30-year amortization, which lowers the payment the stress test is applied against.