According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), home sales recorded over Canadian MLS Systems climbed 3.6 per cent between April and May 2025, marking the first gain in activity since November.
The Greater Toronto Area, Calgary, and Ottawa led this monthly increase in sales activity.
New property listings also rose by 3.1 per cent month-over-month in May, keeping the national sales-to-new listings ratio at 47 per cent, virtually unchanged from April’s 46.8 per cent.
This ratio falls within what experts consider balanced market conditions, which typically range between 45 per cent and 65 per cent.
The national inventory of homes for sale reached 201,880 properties at the end of May, representing 4.9 months of inventory.
While this figure is 13.2 per cent higher than a year earlier, it remains about 5 per cent below the long-term average for May.
Price indicators showed stability after months of decline.
The National Composite MLS Home Price Index was relatively unchanged with just a slight decrease of 0.2 per cent from April to May, following three consecutive monthly declines of approximately 1 per cent.
Year-over-year, the index was down 3.5 per cent.
The non-seasonally adjusted national average home price stood at $691,299 in May 2025, representing a 1.8 per cent decrease compared to the same month last year.
CREA’s Senior Economist, Shaun Cathcart, said he was optimistic about the market’s direction.
“May 2025 not only saw home sales move higher at the national level for the first time in more than six months, but prices at the national level also stopped falling,” he said.
Mr Cathcart said that the anticipated market turnaround may have simply been delayed by external factors.
“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,” he said.
CREA Chair Valérie Paquin said there was increased activity on both sides of the market.
“May saw an increased number of new listings hitting the market early in the month, followed by a higher number of transactions in the second half of the month, so overall more sellers and buyers compared to April,” Ms Paquin said.
