Derrick Bryce

Housing sales (in units) increased nationally for a third consecutive month in June while new listings declined, thereby tightening market conditions modestly from May to June according to the sales-to-new listings ratio. The national (all-markets) MLS HPI stayed flat from May to June; the first time it did not post a monthly decline since February 2025.

National housing (unit) sales increased 0.5% (sa) from May to June, a third consecutive monthly rise. Sales rose by a cumulative 7% (from sa figures) over this 3-month period but, in June 2026, were still 12% (sa) below their November 2024 level, as global trade tensions started rising shortly after the U.S. elections. From May to June, nearly 60% of the local markets we track posted a rise in their sales, with the strongest ones observed for Sudbury (21.2%), Peterborough (14.8%) and Kingston (13.1%).

National new listings declined by 1.3% (sa) from May to June, still following their (mild) downward trend that started in September 2025. Sharpest monthly declines in this indicator were observed for St. John’s (NL; -17.5%), Sudbury (-10.3%) and Victoria (-8.5%). New listings declined by 1.4% (nsa) over the 12-month period ending with June 2026.

The national sales-to-new listings ratio tightened further from May to June, edging up 0.9 percentage point to 50.2%, which is still in the lower half of our estimated range for balanced conditions, where it had been trending since Spring 2022. Since the same month in 2025, this ratio tightened by 1 percentage point, but with only about 45% of tracked market also showing a tightening.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has been conducting its annual Mortgage Consumer Survey since 1999 with a one-year exception during the pandemic. The survey brings valuable insights on mortgage consumers’ thoughts, attitudes and behaviours regarding homeownership and the process of obtaining a mortgage.

This year, a total of 4,112 mortgage consumers were surveyed between January 7 and February 1, 2026. The interviews were conducted in both English and French, and included Canadians aged 18 or over in every region of the country who:

• are the prime decision makers in their households; and,
• had undertaken a mortgage transaction in the past 18 months.

Key highlights

1. Respondents continue to be confident about their purchase being a good long-term investment, though fewer believe the value of their home will increase over the next 12 months compared to last year.
2. It took homebuyers an average of 4.4 years to save for a down payment, mainly driven by first-time homebuyers taking longer at 4.7 year.
3. Savings and equity from previous home continue to be the main components of down payments. However, 23% of homebuyers (13% of repeat buyers and 27% of first-time homebuyers) surveyed said they received a financial gift to contribute to their down payment. 
4. There was a significant decrease in mortgage consumers who were concerned about defaulting on their payments, down to 39% from 53% in 2025.
5. Renewers were more likely (35%) to say they experienced increased financial pressure due to changes in interest rates, with their mortgage payments increasing on average by $375 a month.
6. Mortgage consumers are leveraging the use of AI (16% of those who did online research) to help with their information gathering

The number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems edged up a further 0.5% on a month-over-month basis in June 2026. This builds on the 5.5% jump recorded in May and the 0.9% increase in April, placing national activity some 7% above where it stood in March.

“June’s housing numbers continued to build momentum following the late start to the year in May, with virtually every metric moving in the right direction,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Senior Economist. “Looking ahead, fixed mortgage rates have eased from their peak in April, and rate hikes from the Bank of Canada this year are much less likely than they were just a month ago. This is good news for borrowers. Additionally, home prices are no longer falling in most of the markets where they were previously, which had likely been keeping a lot of buyers waiting on the sidelines. As such, we continue to expect the second half of the year to be quite a bit more active than the first half, similar to sales activity in 2024 and 2025.”

June Highlights:

• National home sales edged up 0.5% month-over-month.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 0.9% above June 2025.
• The number of newly listed properties declined 1.3% on a month-over-month basis.
• The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) was unchanged month-over-month and was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis.
• The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average sale price was up 0.5% on a year-over-year basis in June 2026.