New listings in the Toronto region, like this one in Vaughan, increased by 3.9 per cent to 15,730 in August, giving many buyers the upper hand.

Toronto home sales fell in August, marking the first decline since early spring, while real estate prices dropped further as competition waned.

There were 5,633 transactions last month in the country’s largest real estate market, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, or TRREB. That was 1.8 per cent lower than July and the first monthly decrease since April. (The numbers were adjusted for seasonal influences.)

Activity was nearly 30 per cent below the 10-year average for August, suggesting that real estate is still too expensive for many prospective homeowners, said Jason Mercer, the board’s chief market analyst.

“There are still

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