Canada's May home sales rose, the first meaningful gain of 2026, with prices topping $700,000
Canadian home sales climbed 5.5% on a month-over-month basis in May 2026, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reported Tuesday. That's the first month this year to deliver meaningful upward momentum in national demand.
The gain lifted the national average sale price to $702,079, up 1.5% from May 2025 and the highest monthly reading in two years. It was also the first time the measure crossed the $700,000 mark in 23 months, according to CREA's May 2026 housing market report.
Garry Bhaura, CREA chair, said the figures were the clearest signal yet for Canadians still sitting on the sidelines. "Like the weather in many parts of Canada this year, the spring market appears to have been delayed by a month or so, but the May numbers left little doubt that activity is now picking up," Bhaura said.
"If you have been on the fence this year as either a buyer or as a seller waiting for a sign, this could be it."
Ontario drives the national gain
Shaun Cathcart, senior economist with the Canadian Real Estate Association in Ottawa, said Ontario's disproportionate contribution to May's jump raised a specific question about buyer motivation.
"The national sales increase from April to May was broad-based but driven disproportionately by Ontario, suggesting the HST rebate on new builds may have only briefly drawn the attention of buyers away from the existing home market," Cathcart said.
Read more: GTA single-family sales surpass 10-year average as HST rebate takes hold
Actual sales, not seasonally adjusted, remained 5.1% below May 2025. New listings edged down 1% month-over-month, tightening the national sales-to-new-listings ratio to 49.2% from 46.2% in April.
CREA's long-term average for that measure sits at 54.8%, with readings between 45% and 65% generally consistent with balanced market conditions.
Even with May's uptick, mortgage brokers tracking market conditions heading into mid-2026 have largely tempered their expectations for the months ahead.
What does May's rebound mean for mortgage brokers?
The National Composite MLS Home Price Index (HPI) — which tracks price changes for comparable properties to strip out shifts in the composition of what is selling — edged down 0.1% month-over-month in May, the smallest decline since January 2025 aside from April.
On an annual basis, the HPI fell 4.1%, though that marked the narrowest year-over-year drop recorded in 2026 so far. Prices remained negative year-over-year in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, while other provinces continued to post gains.
National inventory fell to 4.8 months, down from 5.1 months in each of February, March, and April, a tighter picture than the conditions that led CREA to downgrade its 2026 sales and price forecasts in April amid rising bond yields and higher fixed mortgage rates.
Read more: Why is Canada's housing market so unaffordable?
Cathcart said the alignment of buyer and seller expectations is the key development to watch.
"Sellers' and buyers' expectations are increasingly aligned, as evidenced by tightening sale-to-list price ratios and shorter periods between listing and sale dates. As a result, prices have largely stabilized following some softness earlier in the year," he said.
For buyers who are still hesitating, the more pressing question may not be about prices at all. Kevin Fettig, president of Mississauga-based private mortgage lender CMI Financial Group, said the May data is encouraging on paper, but buyers risk fixating on the wrong variable.
"Stop watching whether home prices are down and start watching where the interest rates are heading, because the bigger risk this season isn't mistiming the market, it's mistiming the financing," Fettig said.
"If the rate environment shifts while you're mid-decision, it could cost you your purchasing window."
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