Home sales across Canada strengthened slightly in August, showing a 1.1% increase from sales in July, according to the monthly report from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).
The performance was also the best month of August since 2021 and the fifth consecutive month of sales increases, which are 12.5% above sales levels in March.
In recent months, sales gains were led overwhelmingly by the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), however GTA sales decreased in August, but were offset by higher sales in Montreal, Greater Vancouver and Ottawa, said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s senior economist.
“Activity has continued to gradually pick up steam over the last five months, but the experience from a year ago suggests that trend could accelerate this fall,” said Cathcart. “Part of what drives sales at different points in the year is the availability of a lot of fresh property listings for buyers to buy.”
“For the fall market, that always happens right at the beginning of September, and this year was no exception. If last year is any kind of guide, then there is the potential that sales could really pick up in the next month or so depending on how many buyers are drawn off the sidelines, particularly if we see a rate cut by the Bank of Canada on September 17.”
Of note, the trend of higher supply continued in August, added Cathcart.
“New supply rose 2.6% month-over-month in August,” he said. “With the increase in new listings outpacing the increase in sales in August, the sales-to-new listings ratio eased for the first time since March, falling to 51.2% compared to 52% in July.”
There were 195,453 properties listed for sale on all Canadian MLS Systems at the end of August 2025, up 8.8% from a year earlier but in line with the long-term average for this time of the year.
“There were 4.4 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of August 2025, the lowest level since January,” said Cathcart. “The long-term average for this measure of market balance is five months of inventory. Based on one standard deviation above and below that long-term average, a seller’s market would be below 3.6 months, and a buyer’s market would be above 6.4 months.”
“The long-term average for the national sales-to-new listings ratio is 54.9%, with readings roughly between 45% and 65% generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions.”
Price fluctuations have leveled out, with a 0.1% decline from July and down 3.4% from August last year. The national non-seasonally adjusted home price was $664,078. The national average home price is still heavily influenced by the Toronto and Vancouver market areas.
“August continued the trend of rising sales in many markets across the country, and while momentum slowed compared to July, much of that is simply a reflection of the time of year,” said Valérie Paquin, CREA chair. “Now that we are on the other side of Labour Day, new listings are flooding onto the market.”