Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area were down in August compared with a year ago as prices also continued to fall.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says 5,057 homes changed hands last month, down 2.1 per cent year-over-year, while sales also fell 1.3 per cent from July on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The average selling price stood at $993,410, down 2.7 per cent year-over-year, while the composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, was down 4.5 per cent.

In a related development, it’s the second time this year that the average selling price has dipped below the $1-million level, after January marked the first instance of that happening in five years.

There were 12,075 new listings on the market in August, down 14.1 per cent from last year.

TRREB president Daniel Steinfeld says that if inventory tightens and home prices begin to rise, some buyers may face a trade-off between waiting for greater economic certainty and purchasing before prices move higher.