The Home Price Index, which excludes the most expensive transactions, fell 0.1 per cent April to May, both in Toronto and nationally.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Canadian home sales rose 5.5 per cent in May, the largest increase in activity in more than a year as buyers benefited from a drop in home prices.
There were nearly 38,000 sales nationally last month, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), with Toronto transactions rising 10 per cent from April to May and Ontario up 8.8 per cent over the same period.
The last time national sales rose at this pace was in November, 2024, when mortgage rates started to decrease from their relatively high level owing to Bank of Canada interest-rate cuts.
May sales, on a seasonally adjusted basis, were 5.6 per cent below the 10-year average for that month.
Vancouver’s real estate market adjusts to the new normal
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart said expectations from home sellers and buyers are more aligned.
In the first few years of the housing slump, home sellers expected their properties to command prices similar to the peak of the pandemic’s real estate boom. They held out for more money, which lengthened the time it took to make a sale, if they sold at all.
Today, there is a shorter period between when the homeowner puts their property on the market and when they sell, Mr. Cathcart said.
In addition, prices are not dropping as quickly as they were earlier in the year, he said. The Home Price Index, which excludes the most expensive transactions, fell 0.1 per cent to $657,700 from April to May.
CREA said that, apart from April, it was the smallest monthly decline since January of last year.
Montreal-area home sales down nearly 7% in May as median prices continue to rise
The Home Price Index in the Toronto region, the country’s largest real estate market, also declined by 0.1 per cent from April. In Vancouver, the most expensive area in the country, the typical home price was unchanged.
Overall, the national Home Price Index is 4.1 per cent lower than May, 2025, and 9 per cent lower than three years ago.
Not as many homeowners put their properties up for sale last month with new listings falling 1 per cent from April to May. However, the total number of active listings was relatively unchanged from a year earlier and only 2.8 per cent below the long-term average for this time of the year.
CREA said May to June has historically been one of the busiest times for real estate transactions.