Canadian real estate sales are edging up as the spring season gets under way, but conditions are still soft enough that hopes of a meaningful rebound this year are fading.
That’s the takeaway from a Canadian Real Estate Association report released Thursday. It found that transactions in April ticked up 0.7 per cent to 35,578 compared with March, but are still 4 per cent below April, 2025, which was already a weak year.
Meanwhile, the benchmark value of a home dropped by 0.1 per cent nationally compared with March, and was down 4.2 per cent from the same period a year ago.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart said global instability from the war in Iran and rising mortgage rates are keeping markets weak, especially in B.C. and Ontario.
“The previously expected rebound in housing markets this year will continue to be muted, but it does not mean there will be no upward momentum at all,” Mr. Cathcart said in a press release.
Mortgage experts and economists have said that fixed mortgage rates likely won’t fall until the war in Iran ends and oil prices decline.
Meanwhile, variable rate mortgages could potentially swing in either direction in the coming months as the Bank of Canada weighs the conflicting risks of both a struggling economy and inflation as a result of war in the Middle East.
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Mortgage rates are sourced by Ratehub.ca. For a comprehensive list of today’s mortgage rates for each term/type, visit ratehub.ca/best-mortgage-rates.
Ratehub.ca is a mortgage-rate comparison marketplace and mortgage brokerage. It helps millions of Canadians compare and obtain the best mortgage rates, credit cards, insurance, deposits and loan products.
Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured versus uninsured) as of market close on Thursday.
