{"id":27408,"date":"2026-03-18T10:10:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/?p=27408"},"modified":"2026-03-17T09:04:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T16:04:03","slug":"canadas-housing-activity-moving-at-a-slow-pace-a-balanced-spring-housing-market-waiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2026\/03\/canadas-housing-activity-moving-at-a-slow-pace-a-balanced-spring-housing-market-waiting\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada&#8217;s Housing Activity Moving at A Slow Pace, A Balanced Spring Housing Market Waiting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ottawa, ON March 17, 2026 \u2013 The number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS\u00ae Systems dipped 1.3% on a month-over-month basis in February 2026.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cFebruary saw a continuation of the quieter levels of activity recorded in January, although there was some indication things were starting to pick up speed toward the end of the month,\u201d said Shaun Cathcart, CREA\u2019s Senior Economist. \u201c2026 is still ultimately expected to be a story about pent-up first-time buyer demand finally seeing a chance to enter the market. They\u2019ve had to wait a long time for mortgage rates to find a bottom, but some will no doubt continue to hold off for a bottom in prices in some Ontario and British Columbia markets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>February Highlights :<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u2022 National home sales edged down 1.3% month-over-month.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u2022 Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 8.1% below February 2025.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u2022 The number of newly listed properties declined by 3.9% on a month-over-month basis.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u2022 The MLS\u00ae Home Price Index (HPI) fell 0.6% month-over-month and was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u2022 The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average sale price was little changed (-0.2%) on a year-over-year basis in February 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">New listings fell back by 3.9% on a month-over-month basis in February 2026, erasing the jump recorded in January.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">With new supply down by more than sales in February, the national sales-to-new listings ratio tightened to 47.6% compared to 46.4% in January. The long-term average for the national sales-to-new listings ratio is 54.8%, with readings roughly between 45% and 65% generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cHousing market activity in February remained slow, particularly in the stretch of Ontario between Windsor and Toronto,\u201d said Val\u00e9rie Paquin, CREA Chair. \u201cThat said, the main event never really gets going until around April, so there\u2019s still time to get ready to buy or sell this year. Step one is getting in touch with a local REALTOR\u00ae.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There were 151,850 properties listed for sale across all Canadian MLS\u00ae Systems at the end of February 2026, up 3.7% from a year earlier but 12.3% below the long-term average for that time of year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There were five months of inventory on a national basis at the end of February 2026, unchanged from January and right in line with the long-term average for the measure. However, the national average masks wide regional differences, with no province currently at that level and only a handful of local markets close to it. Based on one standard deviation above and below that long-term average, a seller\u2019s market would be below 3.6 months, and a buyer\u2019s market would be above 6.4 months.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The National Composite MLS\u00ae Home Price Index (HPI) edged down 0.6% on a month-over-month basis in February, not a small decline but smaller than in January.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The non-seasonally adjusted National Composite MLS\u00ae HPI was down 4.8% compared to February 2025.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Regionally, prices remain down on a year-over-year basis in B.C., Alberta, and Ontario, offsetting gains in other provinces.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The non-seasonally adjusted national average home price was $663,828 in February 2026, almost unchanged (-0.2%) from the same month last year.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stats.crea.ca\/en-CA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Canadian Housing Activity Stays Quiet in February 2026<\/a> by | CREA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ottawa, ON March 17, 2026 \u2013 The number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS\u00ae Systems dipped 1.3% on a month-over-month basis in February 2026. \u201cFebruary saw a continuation of &hellip; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2026\/03\/canadas-housing-activity-moving-at-a-slow-pace-a-balanced-spring-housing-market-waiting\/\">read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-updates","category-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Canada&#039;s Housing Activity Moving at A Slow Pace, A Balanced Spring Housing Market Waiting &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2026\/03\/canadas-housing-activity-moving-at-a-slow-pace-a-balanced-spring-housing-market-waiting\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Canada&#039;s Housing Activity Moving at A Slow Pace, A Balanced Spring Housing Market Waiting &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Ottawa, ON March 17, 2026 \u2013 The number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS\u00ae Systems dipped 1.3% on a month-over-month basis in February 2026. \u201cFebruary saw a continuation of &hellip; [read more]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@RoryClipsham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@RoryClipsham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rory Clipsham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/canadas-housing-activity-moving-at-a-slow-pace-a-balanced-spring-housing-market-waiting\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/canadas-housing-activity-moving-at-a-slow-pace-a-balanced-spring-housing-market-waiting\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rory Clipsham\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0672b9777e67473b9bd9247df49499c7\"},\"headline\":\"Canada&#8217;s Housing Activity Moving at A Slow Pace, A Balanced Spring Housing Market Waiting\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-18T17:10:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/canadas-housing-activity-moving-at-a-slow-pace-a-balanced-spring-housing-market-waiting\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":510,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0672b9777e67473b9bd9247df49499c7\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Market Updates\",\"Real Estate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/canadas-housing-activity-moving-at-a-slow-pace-a-balanced-spring-housing-market-waiting\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/canadas-housing-activity-moving-at-a-slow-pace-a-balanced-spring-housing-market-waiting\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/canadas-housing-activity-moving-at-a-slow-pace-a-balanced-spring-housing-market-waiting\\\/\",\"name\":\"Canada's Housing Activity Moving at A Slow Pace, A Balanced Spring Housing Market Waiting &#8226; 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