In May, Canadian home sales decreased by 5.1% compared to the same period last year, as reported by the Canadian Real Estate Association. Despite this decline, there was a notable improvement compared to April, with a 5.5% increase in activity on a seasonally adjusted basis. The national composite housing price index saw a marginal 0.1% decrease month-over-month.
While the housing price index has been on a downward trend for the past 18 months, CREA’s senior economist Shaun Cathcart noted that May’s drop was the smallest since January 2025, indicating a potential stabilization of prices as buyer-seller alignment improves.
Cathcart highlighted that market conditions have been gradually improving, with sellers and buyers showing more consistency in their expectations, leading to tighter sale-to-list price ratios and shorter listing-to-sale periods.
In May, new listings dropped by one percent compared to the previous month, with over 200,000 homes listed for sale on MLS systems nationwide by the end of the month. Regionally, home prices experienced declines in British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta, according to CREA’s data.