No commission rate is standard in Ontario, and HST adds 13 per cent on top. We work out the bill at real Toronto and Ottawa asking prices and explain who pays the buyer's agent under TRESA.
Written by Hamidreza Etebarian on
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Real estate commission in Ontario has no standard rate, it is negotiable, and 13 per cent HST is charged on top of it. At a 4 per cent total, selling a Toronto house at today's median asking price of $1,399,000 costs $55,960 in commission plus $7,275 in HST, or $63,235 before any other selling cost. At 5 per cent the bill reaches $79,044 (Zealty active listings, 2,783 Toronto houses, pulled November 4, 2026). That money usually pays two brokerages: the one that lists your home and the one that brings the buyer. The rules for paying the buyer's side changed on December 1, 2023, under Ontario's Trust in Real Estate Services Act. This guide works through the rates, the HST and those rules at real Ontario asking prices.
When you list a home in Ontario, you sign a seller representation agreement with a brokerage, usually called a listing agreement. Under Ontario Regulation 567/05, the General regulation under the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002 (current November 2026), that agreement must clearly set out how your brokerage's pay is worked out and how much any other brokerage will be paid. In practice the other brokerage is the one representing the buyer. The agreement must also say when either amount can change.
Commission is paid to the brokerage, not straight to the agent. The brokerage then pays its agent under their own internal split. The Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) regulates every brokerage and agent in the province, and it does not set or approve any commission rate.
The Act was called the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 until the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2020 renamed it. The renamed Act, usually shortened to TRESA, and most of its new regulations took effect on December 1, 2023, including the buyer agreement and commission disclosure rules covered below.
Ontario has no standard rate. Section 23(3) of O. Reg. 567/05 bars any agent from suggesting that commission is fixed or approved by RECO, by any government, or by any real estate board or association. An agent who says everyone charges 5 per cent is stating a negotiating position, not a rule.
Many Ontario listing agreements land at about 4 to 5 per cent of the sale price in total, often split evenly between the listing brokerage and the buyer's brokerage. That range is a market observation, not a published figure, and plenty of agreements fall outside it. RECO's Bulletin 2.3 on representation agreements notes that a percentage does not have to be fixed. It can be a series of decreasing percentages, and the agreement must state the method used.
If you are comparing provinces, our BC realtor commission guide covers British Columbia separately. None of its formulas apply to an Ontario listing.
Commission is a taxable service, so HST at 13 per cent is added to it (Canada Revenue Agency, Ontario HST rate, current November 2026). The tax is charged on the commission, not on the price of a resale home. A 4 per cent commission therefore costs 4.52 per cent of the price once HST is in, and a 5 per cent commission costs 5.65 per cent.
Sellers often leave HST out when they estimate what they will walk away with. On a $1,399,000 Toronto house, the HST alone is $7,275 at 4 per cent and $9,094 at 5 per cent. Ask whether the rate in your listing agreement includes HST before you sign.
The figures below use median asking prices from Zealty's active Ontario listings, pulled November 4, 2026, with placeholder prices under $50,000 removed. Asking prices are not sale prices, and Zealty does not carry sold data for Ontario, so read these as a guide to scale. Each example shows a 4 per cent and a 5 per cent total, both with 13 per cent HST.
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Half of the 2,783 houses for sale in Toronto ask $1,399,000 or less.
Half of the 4,394 condos for sale in Toronto ask $575,000 or less.
Half of the 1,593 houses for sale in Ottawa ask $850,000 or less.
Across all of Ontario, Zealty shows 38,783 houses for sale, and more than half of them ask less than $830,000.
Each percentage point costs more than it sounds. On the Toronto house, one point of commission plus its HST is $15,809, so trimming the total by half a point saves $7,904.
Under TRESA, a brokerage cannot take on a buyer or seller without representing them (O. Reg. 567/05, s. 13.3.1). A buyer working with an agent therefore has a buyer representation agreement. If it starts out verbal, the brokerage must put it in writing, sign it and give it to the buyer before the buyer makes an offer (s. 13.6). The written agreement must state how the buyer's brokerage will be paid and when that amount can change (s. 13.4).
That makes the buyer responsible for their own brokerage's fee, a point RECO states plainly in its Bulletin 6.2 on remuneration clauses. In most Ontario resales the seller still ends up funding some or all of it, in one of two ways.
The first is your listing agreement. It sets out what your brokerage will pay a brokerage that brings the buyer, and buyer agreements commonly count that payment toward what the buyer owes.
The second is a remuneration clause in the agreement of purchase and sale, where the seller agrees to pay an amount to cover the buyer's brokerage fees. RECO notes that this term is an agreement between the buyer and the seller, not between the seller and the buyer's brokerage.
When the seller's contribution is less than the buyer agreed to pay, the buyer agreement decides what happens. RECO says it should be clear on whether the buyer owes the shortfall or the brokerage accepts the lower amount. Buyers should read that clause before booking showings, because any shortfall comes on top of the costs in our Ontario closing costs breakdown.
Two more rules affect sellers. A buyer's agent must tell the buyer about every property that meets their criteria, whatever commission it pays (s. 22.4). And if your listing agreement has commission terms that could affect which offer you accept, your brokerage must disclose those terms to anyone who makes a written offer, before any offer is accepted (s. 23(4)).
Ask for the total as two numbers: what the listing brokerage keeps and what it will offer a buyer's brokerage. They are separate negotiations, and each one can move on its own.
Ask how the amount changes in specific cases, because the regulation requires the agreement to spell those cases out. Two worth raising are a sale where the same brokerage also represents the buyer, and a sale after the agreement ends to someone who saw the home while it was listed.
Be careful about cutting the buyer's brokerage share too far. Agents cannot steer buyers away from your home over commission, but a buyer whose own agreement leaves them owing a shortfall may decide your listing costs them too much.
Know your competition before you sit down with an agent. You can browse active Toronto listings on Zealty to see how many similar homes are for sale near yours and what they ask. A seller with few competing listings has more leverage on commission.
Check the expiry date. O. Reg. 567/05 requires it on the first page of the agreement, with your initials beside it (s. 13.4(1), paragraphs 2 and 3). Check the commission method, whether HST is included, what is offered to a buyer's brokerage, and every circumstance in which those amounts change.
Real estate commission in Ontario is usually the largest selling cost, and every part of it is open to negotiation. Browse active listings across Ontario on Zealty to see what your home will compete with before you agree to a rate.
This article is educational and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Commission terms are set by contract, and the TRESA rules quoted here come from O. Reg. 567/05 as consolidated on e-Laws, current November 2026. Talk to your brokerage and a real estate lawyer before you sign.
NOTE: This representation is based in whole or in part on data generated by Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board, or The Canadian Real Estate Association which assume no responsibility for its accuracy. This information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by these organizations or by the agent or brokerage hosting this website. Data presented here is under the license agreement of Holywell Properties, a British Columbia Brokerage.
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Seven programs, one Ontario buyer. We add up the land transfer tax rebates, FHSA, Home Buyers' Plan and new home HST rebates at real Toronto and Windsor asking prices.
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A $900,000 Ontario purchase closes with about $23,701 due on top of the price, and about $38,292 inside Toronto. Every line itemised, with the source for each figure and which ones you can avoid.
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Realtor commission in BC: 7% on the first $100K + 2.5% on the balance + GST. On a $1,189,000 Metro Vancouver home, that's $33,697. Always paid by the seller and always negotiable.
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