Canadian Housing Market Ends 2025 Quietly

The number of home sales recorded in December were down both year-over-year and month-over-month, 4.5 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) cites no “rhyme or reason” for the monthly dip, but rather it being the result of coincidental but seemingly unrelated slowdowns in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal.

For that reason, CREA’s senior economist warns against assuming sales will continue to trend downward in 2026.

“Rather, we continue to expect sales to move higher again as we get closer to spring, rejoining the upward trend that was observed throughout spring, summer and early fall of last year,” says Shaun Cathcart.

New supply also declined two per cent from November to December, marking the fourth straight monthly drop. CREA speculates active listings could be back to posting year-over-year declines around the time this year’s spring market gets going.

“It is expected to benefit from four years of pent-up demand, and interest rates that at this point are about as good as they are going to get,” says CREA chair Valérie Paquin. “Barring any further major uncertainty-causing events, that means we should see a more active market this year.”

There were 4.5 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of December, up slightly from 4.4 months where the measure had been since August.

Nationally, home prices fell 0.3 per cent month-over-month, similar to the dip recorded in November, which could reflect some sellers making price concessions in order to sell properties before the end of the year. Most overall price softening in December came from markets in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe region.

On year-over-year, prices were down four cent to a national average home price of $673,335. Declines were larger for condominium apartments and townhomes, and smaller for one and two-storey detached homes.