July home sales down 5.3% from last year, but market becoming more balanced: CREA

The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales in July were down compared with a year ago, but edged slightly higher month-over-month.

The organization said Tuesday home sales last month totalled 43,578, down 5.3 per cent from the previous year.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, activity was up 0.5 per cent compared with June this year, the fourth month-over-month gain in a row.

“The overall takeaway at the national level is modestly positive; sales are up a little bit more. It’s four in a row now, three of them not so big, but it makes July the highest seasonally adjusted level of demand so far this year,” said CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart in an interview.

He said the market is moving “modestly in the right direction,” and that local markets that were too hot or too cold are moving toward balance. For example, Cathcart said Ontario was a buyer’s market six months ago, but is now already halfway back to normal levels.

CREA said Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador are still borderline sellers’ markets, but that other provinces have seen inventory converging toward long-term averages in recent months.

“Notably, even Ontario’s months of inventory measure was only about a half standard deviation above average in July after having been in a buyers’ market condition for the first four months of 2026,” the report said.

TD economist Rishi Sondhi said in a note Tuesday that over the past four months, “national sales gains have been almost exclusively driven by Ontario, where improved affordability — amid healthy supply and low sales levels — is gradually drawing buyers off the sidelines.”

The national average sale price of a home sold in July was $674,819, up 0.2 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

Regionally, prices fell on a year-over-year basis in Ontario and B.C., while all other regions saw gains.

CREA’s home price index, which aims to represent the sale of typical homes, edged 0.1 per cent higher month-over-month. The index was down 3.3 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage, said in an interview that Canada’s real estate market is not taking off, but it is “healing.”

“We’re seeing the major markets and most expensive markets reflect the kind of activity we’ve seen in more affordable markets earlier in the year. That is balanced territory with sales volumes picking up,” he said.

Soper said there has been a national divide in Canada’s housing market that is gradually easing, “but there’s clearly a divide between expensive markets and affordable markets, and the affordable markets continue to do better.”

CREA says new listings in July were down 1.6 per cent month-over-month, marking the third consecutive drop.

There were 205,388 properties listed for sale across Canada at the end of July, up 0.6 per cent from the previous year and just 1.5 per cent higher than the long-term average.

Looking ahead, Cathcart said it will be important to see what happens in the fall.

“A lot of the inventory that’s hanging around in the summer right now is stuff that didn’t sell earlier. It’s not super exciting, it’s been around, but there’s usually another big burst of exciting new stuff right after Labour Day,” he said.

“If the buyers are there and eager, you’re going to see those numbers pop up in October, November.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2026.

Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press