CREA April Data: National Prices Stabilizing, But Spring Market Remains Subdued

National home sales edged up 0.7 percent month-over-month in April 2026, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association, with the non-seasonally adjusted national average home price reaching $695,412 — up 2.2 percent from the same month last year. CREA’s Senior Economist Shaun Cathcart noted that the modest increase reflected a slow start to April with a stronger handoff into May, alongside falling days on market and stabilizing prices. Crea

The National Composite MLS Home Price Index edged down just 0.1 percent month-over-month in April — the smallest decline since October 2025. Year-over-year, the HPI was down 4.2 percent, the smallest year-over-year decline so far in 2026. There were 187,647 properties listed on Canadian MLS systems at the end of April, up 2.2 percent year-over-year but 6.1 percent below the long-term average. National inventory sits at 5.2 months — near the long-term average — indicating broadly balanced conditions. Regionally, prices remain down year-over-year in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, offsetting gains in other provinces. Crea

CREA’s economists flagged that the oil-price shock beginning in the second half of March raised bond yields and pushed fixed mortgage rates higher, which is expected to keep would-be buyers on the sidelines during what is normally the most active period for housing markets — April, May, and June. The expectation that the rate spike may be temporary is itself a headwind, as buyers who believe rates will fall may wait rather than transact. CREA

Why it matters: The HPI’s smallest monthly decline in seven months is a meaningful technical milestone — it suggests the price correction in the country’s most overvalued markets is at minimum flattening. But CREA’s own revised forecast of just one percent annual sales growth in 2026 reflects the degree to which energy-driven inflation has complicated what was supposed to be a modest recovery year. The next major data release is June 16.