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. A real estate sign showing homes for sale is seen in Montreal on Monday, March 24, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Home sales in May fell 4.3 per cent compared with a year ago, however the Canadian Real Estate Association said Monday that activity picked up when compared to the previous month.

A total of 49,423 residential properties changed hands across Canada last month, compared with 51,642 in May 2024.

However, home sales rose 3.6 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis from April, marking the first month-over-month increase at the national level in more than six months.

“I wouldn’t say that we’ve jumped back into a super hot market or anything like that,” said Shawn Zigelstein, a broker for Royal LePage Your Community Realty in the Greater Toronto Area.

“I think what we’re starting to see, realistically, is maybe a little bit more confidence coming back to the marketplace, seeing that we had so many ... distractions in the early part of 2025 and late in 2024 that caused people to put their housing searches on hold.”

The sales slowdown that has plagued the market for much of 2025 has been attributed to potential buyers sitting on the sidelines amid economic uncertainty related to Canada’s trade relationship with the U.S.

“It’s only one month of data, and one car doesn’t make a parade, but 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,” said CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart in a news release.

The association also said 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.

Zigelstein said he’s expecting the market to show more stability in the months ahead, but he acknowledged that could change on a moment’s notice. He said factors such as ongoing international wars, trade tensions and federal government decisions could affect the way buyers and sellers behave.

“At the end of the day, is that full confidence back? No. Should we expect it to come back any time soon? No, I don’t believe it will,” Zigelstein said.

“I think we’re going to be in a pretty stable market, a pretty flat market for the rest of 2025.”

The actual national average sale price of a home sold in May was $691,299, down 1.8 per cent from a year ago. CREA’s own home price index, which aims to represent the sale of typical homes, ticked 0.2 per cent lower from April.

“We continue to see subdued sales and listless prices at the national level,” said BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic in a note.

“At a high level, it appears that a less-aggressive tone on the trade front and some political clarity in Canada have eased the stress on buyer confidence, but mortgage rates are still not low enough to improve affordability and/or rekindle investor demand.”

He said that given the “strains on affordability and tough investment dynamics,” the market looks stalled until rates break lower.

By: Sammy Hudes

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