Canadian real estate’s ice cold summer continued last month. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data shows the price of a typical home (composite benchmark) fell for a sixth consecutive month in May. Weak sales, rising inventory, and economic jitters helped to push prices to the lowest level in 4 years.
Canadian Real Estate Prices Fall To A 4-Year Low
The seasonally adjusted price of a benchmark (typical) home across Canada.
Source: CREA; Better Dwelling.
Canadian real estate prices continued to slide lower. The seasonally adjusted benchmark home fell 0.2% (-$1,500) to $690,900 in May. A typical home across the country is now the cheapest since May 2021—exactly 4 years ago.
Those looking for prices to firm anytime soon aren’t going to see that in the 12-month trend. The benchmark is 3.2% (-$23,100) lower than last year, with 12-month losses getting larger for four consecutive months.
Canadian Real Estate Prices Now At The Furthest Point Since Peak
According to the board’s benchmark data, home prices have steadily fallen from the record high. The market top was back in February 2022, and since then, the benchmark has fallen 17.5% (-$146,500) as of last month. May marks the largest decline from the all-time high.
The declines are hardly a surprise, and largely just confirmed what experts had anticipated after major markets reported weak demand and rising inventory. With a flood of inventory still set to arrive, a lack of affordability, and a trade war with no end in sight—it’s hard to see how this trend lets up anytime soon.
Come on. No doubt prices are falling but the board just revised that model to show the peak around $850k but it was clearly over $1 million at some point.
I don’t think it hit $`1m at the national level but I do distinctly recall peak to trough being more than 17.5% before. I reckon this has something to do with that time Oxford Economics threw a fit and said they won’t be using the benchmark anymore. IIRC they reduced prices by 3-4% at the time, and I’m sure those numbers get compounded as it goes on.
Moar!
That chart is indicating a waterfall collapse (aka the corrective ‘C’ wave in Elliott Wave Theory speak) ahead.
Look out below!
Is that the same thing as a Dead Cat Bounce?
The borrowing and spending binge by Canadian households, businesses, and governments (all levels) continues unabated.
At the end of March, 2025 the total debt outstanding in Canada (bottom line of the Statistics Canada credit market summary data table) was $12.486 trillion. At the end of March, 2024 the total debt outstanding was $11.650 trillion. In the 1 year period from the end of March, 2024 to the end of March, 2025 it increased by $836 billion. This is an increase of 7.1%.
Looking at the total debt outstanding of domestic non-financial sectors in Canada (17th line up from the bottom of the Statistics Canada credit market summary data table):
At the end of March, 2025 the total debt outstanding of domestic non-financial sectors was $8.410 trillion. At the end of March, 2024 the total debt outstanding of domestic non-financial sectors was $7.906 trillion. In the 1 year period from the end of March, 2024 to the end of March, 2025 it increased by $504 billion. This is an increase of 6.3%.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3810023401
Globe/Mail reported increase in sales, prices. So whom is telling us misinformation?
NEW USA HOUSES COST 400K OR LESS
SEE YOUTUBE, ZILLOW, REDFIN AND LANDSEARCH ETC.
The monthly fall is increasing, I wonder how much longer before the panic starts and prices really start to dive. All these listings and few sales. Some sellers who have to sell will discount significantly and destroy the market. Buyers will watch the falling price of housing and withdraw from the market even more than is already happening.
Sellers market, buyers market, balanced market. Pendulum swings both ways. Those waiting for incredible foreclosures deals ,can battle it out with numbered companies who outbid, buy then RENT them out. It’s a big club and we’re not in it. You’ll own nothing and be happy.
Nooooo!!! Me, myself, believes that this is going to be catastrophic for the Canadian economy! The government should initiate action on war footing (not that we have any wars going on) and immediately start buying properties in bulk to support the prices! They should buy properties at 20% above current price to support the hard-working people of Canada!
Otherwise, we are staring down the abyss of total economic collapse and deep poverty for the whole country!
No, intervention is what got us into this mess – government must stop trying to prop up this market!
On no planet do these real estate prices make sense, and they never will. They are completely unsupported by local incomes, and incomes will never triple in a decade, so house prices must come down to meet them.
Too bad you bought an overpriced property, but you’re a speculator who bought into the hype of ever-rising prices. You took the risk, made money for a while, and are losing now. That’s what gambling is, whether in a casino or in the Canadian real estate market. Stop expecting the taxpayers to bail you out – you weren’t going to share your profits, were you? So, why should we share your losses?
That’s been the problem for far too long in Canadian RE – privatized profits, and socialized losses.
And in case you hadn’t noticed, from your comfortable but overpriced living room, this country has already been in economic collapse for a decade – guess you can’t see the poverty and homelessness and inequality and despair all around you.
But I get it – it’s fine with you that many people in Canada already live in poverty, as long as it’s not YOU…
The high price of RE drags up the cost of everything else – that overpriced Starbucks in the morning has to help pay the store’s overpriced rent. High RE prices have been a disaster for this country, and no one will win – all the boomers will find there’s not enough buyers at the price they want, and young people will just leave Canada. But good luck with trying to get the Cdn govt (e.g. the taxpayers) to take on ever more debt to bail out your poor choices!
Like. 100% agree.
Fed up, well written, couldn’t agree more. When more than half of Canadians do not earn more than $64,000 in income and they need to have 150 to 200 thousand to qualify to purchase property priced higher than $600,000 – good luck selling those overpriced houses!
Long overdue market correction. Price deflation is the only way to bring back affordability along with increasing affordable rental supply.