The Canadian Real Estate Association downgraded its forecast for home sales this year, while it also reported Tuesday the number of homes that changed hands across the country in March fell 9.3 per cent compared with a year ago.
The association said Canadian home sales in March also fell 4.8 per cent on a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis from February, as potential buyers stayed on the sidelines amid concerns over tariffs and economic uncertainty.
In its revised forecast, CREA now expects a total of 482,673 residential properties to be sold this year, essentially unchanged from 2024, but a steep cut from its forecast in January which predicted an 8.6 per cent increase.
The change marked the largest revision by CREA in between its quarterly forecasts since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the association said.
“Up until this point, declining home sales have mostly been about tariff uncertainty. Going forward, the Canadian …