Canada Home Sales Drop 16.2% in January 2026

Canada's housing market cooled significantly in January 2026, with national home sales dropping 16.2 percent from the previous year amid a severe winter storm that disrupted activity in southern Ontario. The Canadian Real Estate Association reported that sales also fell 5.8 percent from December on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the benchmark home price declined 0.9 percent month-over-month to $665,200, marking the 14th consecutive monthly drop and the lowest level in nearly five years.

The slowdown was most pronounced in densely populated regions, where heavy snow limited buyer access to properties. CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart attributed the national decline primarily to weather impacts in the Greater Golden Horseshoe and southwestern Ontario, rather than a broader weakening of demand. "The monthly decline in national home sales was driven primarily by less activity in the Greater Golden Horseshoe and southwestern Ontario, suggesting that the story was probably more about a historic winter storm than a downshift in demand," Cathcart said.

New listings rose 7.3 percent from December, pushing the sales-to-new-listings ratio down to 45 percent, at the lower end of...