January home sales fell as southern Ontario was hit by huge winter storm: CREA

The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales in January fell 16.2 per cent compared with a year earlier as southern Ontario was hit by a massive winter storm.

The association says January sales were also down 5.8 per cent compared with December 2025, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says the drop was driven primarily by the Greater Golden Horseshoe and southwestern Ontario regions, suggesting the move was probably more about the storm than a downshift in demand.

The drop in sales came as the number of newly listed properties rose 7.3 per cent on a month-over-month basis.

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CREA says there were 140,680 properties listed for sale on all Canadian MLS systems at the end of January, up 4.5 per cent from a year earlier but 11.4 per cent below the long-term average for that time of year.

The national average sale price in January was $652,941, down 2.6 per cent from a year earlier.