National home sales in April up 10% compared with year ago, but monthly sales slow

The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of home sales in April rose 10.1 per cent compared with a year ago, but attributed the gain primarily to the early Easter long weekend.

The increase came as the average price of a home sold last month amounted to $703,446, down 1.8 per cent from April 2023.

The result came as Good Friday and Easter landed on March 29 and March 31 this year compared with April 7 and 9 last year.

On a month-over-month basis, CREA says home sales in April were down 1.7 per cent from March, despite the number of properties available for sale rising 2.8 per cent to kick off the spring market.

Slower monthly sales amid more new listings meant there a 6.5 per cent jump in the overall number of properties on the market — the second largest month-over-month gain on record.

The national housing market is also seeing the highest inventory levels since just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 4.2 months of inventory at the end of April, compared with 3.9 months at the end of March.

CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says this spring has seen opposite conditions compared with the same season last year, when a surge of buyers re-entered the market and new listings were at 20-year lows.