After months of slower activity, the Canadian real estate market is showing signs of life. According to the latest report from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), May 2025 brought a noticeable uptick in sales activity, fueled by momentum in several major cities.
Sales activity picks up
For the first time since November 2024, home sales are rising. Nationally, activity rose by 3.6% from April to May 2025. The biggest boosts came from the Greater Toronto Area, Calgary and Ottawa, which helped drive the national numbers upward.
“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,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s senior economist, in the report. “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.”
New listings on the rise
Sellers are stepping back into the market as well, with new listings climbing by 3.1% month over month in May. The national sales-to-new listings ratio stayed steady at 47%, just a hair up from April’s 46.8%. This ratio continues to hover in the zone typically considered balanced, which ranges from 45% to 65%. Historically, the long-term average is closer to 54.9%.
“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,” said Valérie Paquin, CREA’s Chair. “It seems like this may carry over into June as well.”
Inventory levels stay steady
There were 201,880 properties listed for sale across Canadian MLS® Systems at the end of May, up 13.2% compared to May 2024, but still 5% below the long-term average for this time of year, which sits around 211,500 listings.
The national inventory level stood at 4.9 months, aligning closely with the long-term average of five months.
Home prices see minimal growth
After three months of roughly 1% declines, home prices hit a pause in May. The National Composite MLS® Home Price Index dipped just 0.2% from April. On a year-over-year basis, the non-seasonally adjusted index was down 3.5% compared to May 2024. The national average home price came in at $691,299 in May 2025, a decrease of 1.8% from a year earlier.
