TORONTO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Canadian home sales posted an annual decline last year as sales and prices fell in December, data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed on Thursday.
Home sales fell 2.7% in December from November, while they were down 4.5% year-over-year without seasonal adjustment.
For 2025, sales decreased 1.9% from the previous year to 470,314 units. The economic shock of U.S. tariffs pushed buyers to the sidelines in the first quarter, CREA said.
“There doesn’t appear to have been much rhyme or reason to the month-over-month decline in home sales in December, which was simply the result of coincident but seemingly unrelated slowdowns in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal,” CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart said in a statement.
“For that reason, it would be prudent for market observers to resist the temptation to trace a line from the end of 2025 into 2026. Rather, we continue to expect sales to move higher again as we get closer to the spring, rejoining the upward trend that was observed throughout the spring, summer, and early fall of last year.”
The Bank of Canada has lowered its benchmark interest rate to 2.25% to support the economy. The rate is down 2.75 percentage points since June 2024.
The industry group's Home Price Index edged down 0.3% on the month and was down 4% year-over-year.
Newly listed properties declined 2% month-over-month, marking a fourth straight monthly drop.
The sales-to-new listings ratio eased to 52.3% from 52.7% in November, remaining close to the long-term average.
Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Andrea Ricci
