CREA reports April home sales down as spring market still hasn’t thawed

The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales in April fell compared with a year ago as the average sale price climbed.

The organization said home sales in April totalled 42,927, down four per cent from 44,698 in April 2025.

The move came as home sales in April edged up 0.7 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis compared with March this year.

Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s senior economist, said the latest bout of global economic uncertainty and higher mortgage rates means 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.

“While home sales were up only modestly from March to April, the small increase reflected a slow start to the month with a stronger handoff into May, alongside falling days on market and stabilizing prices,” Cathcart said in a news release.

Despite the bump in activity, sales remain about 10 per cent below normal April levels, said BMO chief economist Douglas Porter in a note.

“No one is going to mistake this for a sign of spring for the chilly housing market,” he said.

The national average sale price of a home sold in April was $695,412, up 2.2 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

CREA’s home price index, which aims to represent the sale of typical homes, edged 0.1 per cent lower between March and April, marking the smallest decline since October 2025. The index was down 4.2 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

CREA said new listings for April were up 4.1 per cent on a month-over-month basis, marking the traditional start of the spring real estate market.

There were a total of 187,647 properties listed for sale across Canada at the end of April, up 2.2 per cent from a year earlier but 6.1 per cent below the long-term average for that time of the year.

Last month, the association revised its forecast for home sales activity in 2026, saying it expects one per cent more transactions than in 2025. That was down from its previous forecast in January of 5.1 per cent growth year-over-year.

The national average home price is forecast to rise 1.5 per cent on an annual basis to $688,955 in 2026, which would be around $10,000 lower than predicted in January.

Porter said the latest trends suggest expectations for a marked recovery in Canadian housing activity have been dialed back again, as sales have been “dampened by consumer caution amid the upswing in (oil-driven) inflation and the related rise in long-term interest rates.”

“Given lingering affordability issues in many regions of the country, and the now-distant prospect of any further rate cuts by the Bank of Canada, it’s tough to see the market springing to life anytime soon,” he said.

Regionally, prices were down on a year-over-year basis in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, which offset gains in other provinces.

“While the national figures remain sluggish, the underlying picture continues to reveal vast regional variations, especially on the price side,” Porter said.

“The main takeaway is that while there are still substantial regional differences, much of the country is dealing with generally chilly activity.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2026.