Canada Home Sales Fall 6.9% Year-Over-Year in August — SkimNews
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- CREA reported August home sales of 37,504 units, down 6.9% from August 2025, while seasonally adjusted activity slipped 0.7% from July.
- Shaun Cathcart, CREA's senior economist, said sales and price trends were largely unchanged for a fourth consecutive month but flagged that the Bank of Canada has warned of rising inflation risks and questioned the durability of recent growth.
- Fixed mortgage rates have already climbed on higher bond yields, while markets have priced in a variable rate hike sometime this year, according to Cathcart.
- Robert Kavcic, BMO's senior economist, called the national market "soft" but "not completely tapped out," noting that southern Ontario and much of B.C. continue to lag.
- The national average sale price hit $668,219 in August, up 0.6% year-over-year, while CREA's home price index held flat month-over-month but dropped 3% annually.
- New listings rose 3.3% month-over-month, ending a three-month decline streak, with just under 200,000 properties on the market at month's end — up 1.4% from a year earlier and in line with the long-term average.
Why it matters: CREA expects fresh headwinds — a Bank of Canada inflation warning and a variable rate hike now priced in by markets — to dampen housing momentum into 2027. The 3.3% month-over-month jump in new listings suggests sellers rushed to beat a softer fall, while Ontario and B.C. remain the weakest regional markets heading into the season.
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