Declines in Canadian Home Sales Take a Pause in April

31-May-2025

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The number of sales recorded over Canadian MLS Systems was unchanged between March and April 2025, marking a pause in the trend of declining activity since the beginning of the year, according to CREA.

Demand is currently hovering around levels seen during the second half of 2022, and the first and third quarters of 2023. The report noted that national home sales were unchanged month-over-month and that actual monthly activity came in 9.8 per cent below April 2024.

The number of newly listed properties fell 1 per cent on a month-over-month basis and the MLS Home Price Index (HPI) declined 1.2 per cent month-over-month and was down 3.6 per cent on a year-over-year basis. The actual national average sale price was down 3.9 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

New supply declined by 1 per cent month-over-month in April. Combined with flat sales, the national sales-to-new listings ratio climbed to 46.8 per cent in comparison to 46.4 per cent in March. The long-term average for the national sales-to-new listings ratio is 54.9 per cent, with readings between 45 per cent and 65 per cent generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions.

There were 183,000 properties listed for sale on all Canadian MLS Systems at the end of April 2025, up 14.3 per cent from a year earlier but still below the long-term average for that time of the year of around 201,000 listings.

According to the report, there were 5.1 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of April 2025, in line with the long-term average of five months of inventory. Based on one standard deviation above and below that long-term average, a seller’s market would be below 3.6 months and a buyer’s market would be above 6.4 months. The National Composite MLS Home Price Index (HPI) declined by 1.2 per cent from March to April 2025.