Canadian Existing-Home Sales Rise 3.6% in May

On Monday, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reported that home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems increased 3.6% in May, marking the first gain in activity since November 2024.

New supply rose by 3.1% in May. Given a similar increase in sales activity, the national sales-to-new listings ratio was 47%, almost unchanged from 46.8% in April. The long-term average for the national sales-to-new listings ratio is 54.9%, with readings between 45% and 65% generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions.

There were 201,880 properties listed for sale on all Canadian MLS® Systems at the end of May, up 13.2% from a year earlier but remaining about 5% below the long-term average of around 211,500 listings for the month.

According to CREA, there were 4.9 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of May, near the long-term average of five months of inventory. Based on one standard deviation above and below that long-term average, a seller’s market would be below 3.6 months and a buyer’s market would be above 6.4 months.

The National Composite MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) was relatively unchanged, down 0.2% from April. The pause is on the heels of three straight monthly declines of closer to 1%. The non-seasonally adjusted National Composite MLS® HPI was down 3.5% year-over-year.

The non-seasonally adjusted national average home price was CA$691,299 in May, down 1.8% from a year earlier.