The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales in April fell 9.8 per cent compared with the same month last year, as the national housing market has returned “to the quiet markets we’ve experienced since 2022.”
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, home sales last month ticked down 0.1 per cent.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says tariff-related uncertainty is continuing to keep buyers on the sidelines, similar to how high interest rates chilled demand during the second half of 2022 and much of 2023 before the Bank of Canada began cutting.
The association also says new listings fell one per cent month-over-month. There were 183,000 properties listed for sale across Canada at the end of April, up 14.3 per cent from a year earlier but still below the long-term average for the month of around 201,000 listings.
The actual national average sale price of a home sold in April was $679,866, down 3.9 per cent from a year ago.
Last month, the association downgraded its forecast for home sales activity this year, saying total transactions would likely be on par with 2024 — a steep cut from its January forecast of an 8.6 per cent increase in 2025.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2025.
Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press
