May home sales down 4.3 per cent from year ago, but activity up month-over-month

The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales in May fell 4.3 per cent compared with a year ago, however activity picked up when compared to the previous month.

Home sales rose 3.6 per cent from April, marking the first month-over-month increase at the national level in more than six months.

CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that after buyers sat on the sidelines for much of 2025 so far, there is a sense that “maybe the expected turnaround in housing activity this year was just delayed for a few months by the initial tariff chaos and uncertainty.”

The association also says new listings rose 3.1 per cent month-over-month.

There were 201,880 properties listed for sale across Canada at the end of May, up 13.2 per cent from a year earlier, but still five per cent below the long-term average for the month of around 211,500 listings.

The actual national average sale price of a home sold in May was $691,299, down 1.8 per cent from a year ago.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025.

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