It's a well-known fact that home sales in Toronto have been dwindling since the ongoing pandemic shut down all non-essential services, but home prices have held strong to date — no doubt a testament to just how hot the market was pre-lockdown.

The Toronto Regional Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) reveals in its latest Monthly Market Report that average selling prices were still up, year over year, in April of 2020 (albeit by just 0.1 per cent).

When broken down by home type, however, we see a different trend starting to emerge — one that fares well for prospective condo buyers and condo renters alike.

GTA average price for 1 bdrm condo apt is ⬇️$58 YoY, and 2 bdrom is ⬇️$116. The number of MLS transactions didn't fall as much as for resale but rental market might be based more on immediate need, whereas less of a factor for most house-hunters. /12 pic.twitter.com/8BpSmlEKtF

— Scott Ingram CPA, CA (@areacode416) May 5, 2020

The average price of a condominium apartment within the City of Toronto actually fell by 4 per cent last month compared against April of 2019, according to TRREB, landing at $612,300.

Rents on condo apartments across the entire GTA were also down over the same period of time, by 2.7 per cent for one bedroom units (which are now renting for an average of $2,107) and 4.1 per cent for two bedroom units ($2,705).

"These are unprecedented times," said TRREB CEO John DiMichele in a news release on Tuesday of the figures.

"Past recessions and recoveries do not necessarily provide the best guide as to how the housing market will recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic."

Whether that means rent prices will rise again, as they've been doing steadily over the past five years, remains to be seen — but home sales will likely rebound at least a little bit from where they're at now.

The Greater Toronto Area saw a record low 2,942 home sales in April 2020. Prior to last month, the lowest sales volume (5,386) on record for the month of April was in 1996, the oldest year for which monthly sales statistics are available from the TRREB pic.twitter.com/nLIjQXQNuS

— John Pasalis (@JohnPasalis) May 4, 2020

Residential transactions through TRREB's MLS system were down a whopping 67 per cent last month, year over year, with condos registering the steepest sales decline at 71.6 per cent.

While sales of all home types decreased across the City of Toronto proper last month, it's interesting to see how price trends differed by category.

Townhomes and semi-detached properties are both up in terms of their average selling prices, while detached home prices join condo prices in dropping over the past year. The average selling price for a detached home in Toronto last month was $1,249,730 — down 7.9 per cent since April of 2019.

Who'd have ever thought?