{"id":27743,"date":"2026-05-15T10:10:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T17:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/?p=27743"},"modified":"2026-05-15T07:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T14:00:16","slug":"national-housing-sales-edge-higher-while-many-buyers-remain-in-a-wait-and-see-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2026\/05\/national-housing-sales-edge-higher-while-many-buyers-remain-in-a-wait-and-see-mode\/","title":{"rendered":"National Housing Sales Edge Higher, While Many Buyers Remain in A Wait-and-See Mode"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ottawa, ON May 14, 2026 \u2013 The number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS\u00ae Systems was up 0.7% on a month-over-month basis in April 2026.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWhile 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,\u201d said Shaun Cathcart, Senior Economist with the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>April Highlights :<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u2022 National home sales edged up 0.7% month-over-month.<br \/>\n\u2022 Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 4% below April 2025.<br \/>\n\u2022 The number of newly listed properties jumped 4.1% on a month-over-month basis.<br \/>\n\u2022 The MLS\u00ae Home Price Index (HPI) edged down 0.1% month-over-month and was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis.<br \/>\n\u2022 The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average sale price was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis in April 2026.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">New listings jumped 4.1% on a month-over-month basis in April 2026, marking the traditional starting point for the spring market.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">With the gain in new supply outpacing sales within the month of April, the national sales-to-new listings ratio eased to 45.6% compared to 47.1% in March. That said, this could reflect a timing issue between when properties are listed and when they eventually sell. 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;\">\u201cWhile many buyers remain in a wait and see mode, the April national housing numbers did move in the right direction across the board,\u201d said Garry Bhaura, CREA Chair. \u201cWith the spring listings now coming onto the market, sales were up, days on market were down, and prices continued to stabilize. The data trends suggest more of the same for May, so if you\u2019re ready to get into the market as a buyer or as a seller, start working with a local REALTOR\u00ae today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There were 187,647 properties listed for sale on all Canadian MLS\u00ae Systems at the end of April 2026, up 2.2% from a year earlier but 6.1% below the long-term average for that time of the year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There were 5.2 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of April 2026, up slightly from February and March due to the influx of new spring listings. This remains very close to the long-term average for the measure of five months. 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 just 0.1% on a month-over-month basis in April, the smallest decline since October 2025. This aligns with sale-to-list price ratios that have been tightening up and days on market that have been edging lower in recent months. Price stabilization is an important milestone necessary for buyers to eventually start re-entering the market in larger numbers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The non-seasonally adjusted National Composite MLS\u00ae HPI was down 4.2% compared to April 2025, the smallest year-over-year decline so far in 2026.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Regionally, prices remain down on a year-over-year basis in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, offsetting gains in other provinces.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The non-seasonally adjusted national average home price was $695,412 in April 2026, up 2.2% from the same month last year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stats.crea.ca\/en-CA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a> to view the report.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stats.crea.ca\/en-CA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Canadian Home Sales Edge Higher in April<\/a> by CREA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ottawa, ON May 14, 2026 \u2013 The number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS\u00ae Systems was up 0.7% on a month-over-month basis in April 2026. \u201cWhile home sales were &hellip; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2026\/05\/national-housing-sales-edge-higher-while-many-buyers-remain-in-a-wait-and-see-mode\/\">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-27743","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 v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>National Housing Sales Edge Higher, While Many Buyers Remain in A Wait-and-See Mode &#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\/05\/national-housing-sales-edge-higher-while-many-buyers-remain-in-a-wait-and-see-mode\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"National Housing Sales Edge Higher, While Many Buyers Remain in A Wait-and-See Mode &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Ottawa, ON May 14, 2026 \u2013 The number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS\u00ae Systems was up 0.7% on a month-over-month basis in April 2026. \u201cWhile home sales were &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\\\/05\\\/national-housing-sales-edge-higher-while-many-buyers-remain-in-a-wait-and-see-mode\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/national-housing-sales-edge-higher-while-many-buyers-remain-in-a-wait-and-see-mode\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rory Clipsham\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0672b9777e67473b9bd9247df49499c7\"},\"headline\":\"National Housing Sales Edge Higher, While Many Buyers Remain in A Wait-and-See Mode\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-15T17:10:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/national-housing-sales-edge-higher-while-many-buyers-remain-in-a-wait-and-see-mode\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":584,\"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\\\/05\\\/national-housing-sales-edge-higher-while-many-buyers-remain-in-a-wait-and-see-mode\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/national-housing-sales-edge-higher-while-many-buyers-remain-in-a-wait-and-see-mode\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.roryc.ca\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/national-housing-sales-edge-higher-while-many-buyers-remain-in-a-wait-and-see-mode\\\/\",\"name\":\"National Housing Sales Edge Higher, While Many Buyers Remain in A Wait-and-See Mode &#8226; 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