CREA reports nearly 10% drop in home sales as supply builds and confidence weakens
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reported a 9.8 percent drop in national home sales in April compared with the same month last year.
A total of 44,300 residential properties changed hands across Canada, down from 49,135 in April 2024.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged down 0.1 percent.
CREA described this trend as a return “to the quiet markets we’ve experienced since 2022,” according to BNN Bloomberg.
Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s senior economist, attributed the slowdown to tariff-related uncertainty, noting its resemblance to how high interest rates reduced demand in the second half of 2022 and much of 2023 before the Bank of Canada began rate cuts.
Tim Hill, a real estate agent with Re/Max All Points Realty, said many buyers are delaying purchases while they wait to see how Canada’s trade relationship with the US unfolds.
“When it does come to the tariff side of it, I think it’s just people being scared of, ‘What if I buy a home now and the home value goes down?’” Hill said.
“I think a lot of people get hesitant whenever they think the market could go down.”
Hill said that this hesitancy may persist, pointing to how “volatile” sentiment has been since US President Donald Trump was elected.
“Even if we get certainty ... could something change anyways down south?” he added.
CREA also reported that new listings in April fell by one percent compared with March.
At the end of April, 183,000 properties were listed for sale nationwide.
This marks a 14.3 percent year-over-year increase but remains below the long-term April average of around 201,000.
The increase in inventory was concentrated in British Columbia and Ontario, while other regions continued to experience tight supply.
Cathcart said in a news release that the potential for an economic downturn could shift the housing market further.
He said that with the growing risk of economic turbulence, the key concern is whether “an average number of people trying to sell their homes turns into a large number of people who have to sell their homes.”
He added that this kind of scenario “is something we have not seen in decades.”
Hill, who works in the Vancouver market, said supply is accumulating but properties are “just not selling as quickly.”
“We’re seeing increased inventory with very stagnant demand,” he said. “It’s just compiled. There’s been ... some hesitation out there and a lot of uncertainty.”
The actual national average sale price of a home sold in April was $679,866 — a 3.9 percent decrease from April 2024.
CREA’s home price index, which measures typical home sales, fell 1.2 percent from March.
TD economist Rishi Sondhi described April as “another subdued month” for home sales.
In a note, he said, “Economic uncertainty likely continued to keep potential buyers sidelined.”
He added that with last month’s weak performance and poor momentum going into the quarter, they are “currently tracking another decline in Canadian home sales in Q2 following their sizable first-quarter contraction.”
In April, CREA lowered its home sales forecast for 2025, now expecting transactions to remain flat year-over-year. This marks a sharp revision from its January projection of an 8.6 percent increase.
Sondhi said that demand could rebound later in the year.
He said that “history shows that Canadian housing markets can surge after lulls,” and if confidence improves later in the year, which he expects, sales could rebound.
However, he noted that average home price growth in Canada will likely “remain a laggard for much of the year,” due to loose supply and demand conditions in BC and Ontario.
