Toronto/CMEDIA: With reportedly the Canadian national housing market returning to a quieter market since 2022, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) says home sales in April fell 9.8 percent compared with the same month last year.
Across Canada last month, a total of 44,300 residential properties were sold compared with 49,135 in April 2024.
Due to the tariff-related uncertainty to keep buyers on the sidelines, CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart said high interest rates chilled demand during the second half of 2022 and much of 2023 before the Bank of Canada began cutting.
“At this point, the 2025 Canadian housing story would best be described as a return to the quiet markets we’ve experienced since 2022…Given the increasing potential for a rough economic patch ahead…and that’s something we have not seen in decades.” says CREA’s Senior Economist Shaun Cathcart in a press release. “
Many buyers, before making their move, are waiting for certainty as to what Canada’s trade relationship with the U.S. will look like on their employment status, said Tim Hill, a real estate agent with Re/Max All Points Realty.
“When it does come to the tariff side of it, I think it’s just people being scared of, ‘What if I buy a home now and the home value goes down?…I think a lot of people get hesitant whenever they think the market could go down…Even if we get certainty … could something change anyways down south?,” Tim said.
Lack of confidence could linger on for some time, Hill said, noting volatile sentiment since U.S. President Donald Trump was elected.
The association said new listings fell one percent month-over-month.
Across Canada, 183,000 properties were listed for sale at the end of April, up 14.3 percent from a year earlier but still below the long-term average for the month of around 201,000 listings.
Higher inventories in B.C. and Ontario are contributing to increased supply levels, while tight inventories remain everywhere else.
Hill, who is based in Vancouver, said due to the current economic environment, supply has been accumulating in that market and “it’s just not selling as quickly…We’re seeing increased inventory with very stagnant demand…It’s just compiled. There’s been…a lot of uncertainty.”
TD economist Rishi Sondhi called April “another subdued month” for home sales, and added, “Economic uncertainty likely continued to keep potential buyers sidelined..last month’s soft showing …we’re currently tracking another decline in Canadian home sales in Q2 following their sizable first-quarter contraction,” he said in a note.
Last month, CREA downgraded its forecast for home sales this year, a steep cut from its January forecast of an 8.6 percent increase in 2025.
Sondhi said that could lead to more demand, which had already been building in Ontario and B.C. before the Canada-U.S. trade war began.
“History shows that Canadian housing markets can surge after lulls…However, Canadian average home price growth is likely to remain a laggard for much of the year, given very loose supply/demand balances in B.C. and Ontario,” he said.
