"Housing affordability" are two words not often used in recent years by the real estate boards of the Greater Vancouver and Great Toronto Areas (GVA and GTA), unless they were proceeded by ‘deteriorating’. However, the boards in each city released their housing statistics for the month of May on Wednesday, each offering a slightly more positive view of affordability. The release from the Toronto Region Real Estate Board (TRREB) reads, “The Greater Toronto Area housing market experienced an improvement in affordability in May 2025 relative to the same period a year earlier. With sales down and listings up, homebuyers took advantage of increased inventory and negotiating power.” Sales in the GTA last month reached 6,244 homes, down 13.3%, year-over-year, while new listings came in at 21,819, up 14% from May 2024. “Home ownership costs are more affordable this year compared to last. Average selling prices are lower, and so too are borrowing costs. All else being equal, sales should be up relative to 2024,” reads the release. At issue, said Jason Mercer, TRREB’s chief information officer, is a lack of economic confidence. .“Once households are convinced that trade stability with the United States will be established and/or real options to mitigate our reliance on the United States exist, home sales will pick up,” said Mercer. “Further cuts in borrowing costs would also be welcome news to homebuyers.” Buyers in the GTA have seen prices go through the roofs of the second most expensive homes in the country since 2020, but not in May. The composite benchmark price was down 4.5% year-over-year, while the average selling price, $1,120,879, was down 4% compared to May 2024. “With the federal government’s housing commitments reiterated in the throne speech, we now need concrete actions that will restore housing affordability across the GTA and the rest of Canada,” said TRREB CEO, John DiMichele. “This includes lowering high housing taxes and fees, embracing innovative construction technologies and streamlining processes to reignite the construction of homes.” “Home construction is associated with huge economic benefits that would help mitigate the negative impact of ongoing trade disputes. Additionally, with inflation remaining low, a rate cut would be a welcome move, particularly for first-time buyers and those renewing their mortgages”. .On the West Coast, sales in the GVA in May were 2,228 homes, an 18.5% drop from May 2024 and down 30% from the 10-year seasonal average, according to the association of Greater Vancouver Realtors (GVR). New listings totalled 6,620 homes, a 3.9% increase year-over-year and 9.3% above the 10-year average. To the end of May, total listings reached 17,094, up 25.7%, year-over-year and 45.9% above the 10-year average. The composite benchmark price in the GVA in May sat at $1,177,100, a 2.9% drop from May 2024, and a 0.6% decrease from April. "While there are emerging signs that sales activity might be turning a corner, sales in May were below the ten-year seasonal average, which suggests that many buyers are still sitting on the sidelines or are being especially selective,” said Andrew Lis, GVR’s director of economics and data analytics. “On a year-to-date basis, sales in 2025 rank among the slowest to start the year in the past decade, closely mirroring the trends seen in 2019 and 2020.” “It’s worth noting that sales rebounded significantly in the latter half of 2020, but whether sales in 2025 might follow a similar pattern remains the million-dollar question." .The GVA is well into buyers’ territory, added Lis. “With some of the healthiest levels of inventory seen in years, many sellers are adjusting price expectations, which has provided buyers more negotiating room and kept a firm lid on price escalation over the past few months,” he said. “From a seasonal perspective, sales in the summer months are typically quieter than the spring, but with such an unusually slow spring, we may have an unusually busy summer with so many having delayed their purchasing decisions.” “Either way, the market continues tilting in favour of buyers, which bodes well for anyone looking to make a purchase this summer.” Regardless, prices are still at eye-watering levels compared to the rest of the country. The single-family benchmark price in May was $1,997,400, a 3.2% drop year-over year and down 1.2% from April. The benchmark price of apartments was $757,300, a year-over-year decline of 2.4% and down 0.7% from April. Attached homes had a benchmark price of $1,106,800, a 3.4% drop, year-over-year and down 0.4% from April.
