After months of declining activity, sales in Canada’s housing market plateaued in April, according to the latest market report from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). National home sales through Canadian MLS® Systems recorded virtually no change, dipping just 0.1% from March, marking a pause in the downward trend that began earlier in the year.
Sales level off, listings pull back
Home sales in April hovered around levels last seen in the latter half of 2022. New listings were down 1% from the previous month, leading to a slight rise in the national sales-to-new listings ratio, which climbed to 46.8% from 46.4% in March. While this is still below the long-term average of 54.9%, the ratio remains within the range generally associated with balanced market conditions.
“At this point, the 2025 Canadian housing story would best be described as a return to the quiet markets we’ve experienced since 2022, with tariff uncertainty taking the place of high interest rates in keeping buyers on the sidelines,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Senior Economist, in the report. “Given the increasing potential for a rough economic patch ahead, the risk going forward will be if an average number of people trying to sell their homes turns into a large number of people who have to sell their homes, and that’s something we have not seen in decades.”
Inventory growing, but still below normal
By the end of April, there were 183,000 properties listed for sale across all Canadian MLS® Systems, a 14.3% increase compared to the same time last year. However, this number remains below the long-term average for April, which typically sees around 201,000 active listings. Nationally, there were 5.1 months of inventory on hand, matching the historical average.
Home prices continue to ease
The National Composite MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) fell by 1.2% from March to April 2025. On an annual basis, the non-seasonally adjusted HPI was down 3.6% compared to April 2024. This ongoing softening of prices may provide some relief to buyers, particularly as inventory improves and competition eases slightly across many markets. The non-seasonally adjusted national average home price was $679,866 in April 2025, down 3.9% from the same month last year.
