If you're a seller, what's your best move in a tricky real estate market?

Global News

20-05-2025

While it may be a good time for some Canadian home buyers to make the jump into real estate, realtors say those selling their home could face difficulties.
Spring is often a season that sees home sales ramp up, but depending on where you live and what kind of property you're trying to sell, you're likely to face a trickier time, experts say — and some, like condo owners, may need to 'take the loss' just to get a deal done.
According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), home sales in April declined nearly 10 per cent compared to last year.
'A lot of people are just kind of waiting to see what's happening,' said realtor Stephen Moore with Century 21.
'We can blame it on the situation that Canada is in, where there was an election that kind of paused things, the Trump tariffs kind of put people at bay, those kind of things put people on the sideline. They want to wait.'
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As a result, certain markets like Toronto and Vancouver saw a stagnation in home sales and in prospective buyers who would purchase those properties.
But Moore said that's not the case in every market.
The national price map from CREA shows that while housing prices in Ontario have declined from a year ago — Ontario dropped from $902,535 to $859,645, while B.C. fell from about $1 million to $946,000 — other markets saw increases such as Alberta.
That province saw an average increase of about $25,000 and Quebec rose by $50,000.
Even at a more city level, Moore notes some cities saw price increases even if the average provincial price dropped. The Vancouver Island region saw prices increase by 3.1 per cent and the Ottawa region saw an estimated 1.1-per cent rise.
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So what does that mean if you're planning to sell your property?
What are the keys to selling right now?
Moore told Global News while it can be difficult to predict exactly when the best time to sell will be, there are things homeowners can do including looking at the current situation in their market.
He says sellers must look to the 'three Ps': price, promotion and product.
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This means ensuring your property is staged well and has good photos in the listing, while also promoting the home through both realty services like the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and social media.
In addition, listing it for the right price is important as Moore notes if you're listed $10,000 above what it's worth, people won't show up.
'If you've got a great product and you're priced consciously, it may be a good time,' he said. 'It's really important that people set their home up for success.'
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'If they're prepared to be able to go through it and the market's not flooded, it's still a good time, there's still buyers out there,' he said.
If people are thinking of the right season to sell, Moore added fall could be the right time as summer often sees a lag in sales, while autumn is a time when people are trying to get things done before the winter holidays.
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A recent report from RBC showed that while Canadian home prices continue to slide, there is a stabilization occurring with national home resales in April down only 0.1 per cent from March, compared to a sharp cumulative 19-per cent decrease in the prior four months.
'The U.S. administration's decision to spare Canada from additional tariffs last month could boost confidence and attract buyers in coming months,' said RBC chief economist Robert Hogue in the report.
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Andrew Lis, director of economics at Greater Vancouver Realtors, said determining when to sell can require weighing what makes the most sense.
'It depends on an individual's financial situation and so on,' he said.
'If you are say a seller that's comfortably housed and you've got a place that you've lived in for some long period of time and you're looking to make a move, well, you're going to be competing with a lot of other sellers in the market. So you're going to have to have some realistic price expectations.
However, Toronto-based realtor Melanie Piche told Global News it can be difficult to wait to sell especially if dealing with financial stress.
'Depending how much equity you have in your property and how important it is to you, to me: if you have to sell, you need to be on the market and it's not a terrible market if you price yourself properly,' she said.
Piche added those who have owned their property for a long time who expect to get a lot of money for their property, however, may find it better to wait, since many buyers want price flexibility.
Home owners should take into account the reasons why they want to sell when deciding whether to wait or sell now, according to Tony Tintinalli, Bank of Montreal head of specialized sales
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'It really is about, why do you need to move? Like if there's a timeline and a decision, then accelerating that is really going to be dependent,' he said.
'You can try to play the market and you can, you try to study it as much as you can, but ultimately, what is the goal here? If you need to be somewhere, then getting going on it is probably the best way to think about it.'
It's why he noted it can be wise to work with an expert like a realtor to better understand the market and how to sell your property, as opposed to waiting and jumping in when you think it's right.
Condo market in 'big trouble': realtor
Realtors add that single-family homes appear to be seeing higher demand compared with multi-unit options like condominiums, which means those condo owners are having more difficulty selling.
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'The condo market is in big trouble,' Moore said.
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Click to share quote on Twitter: "The condo market is in big trouble," Moore said.
'The biggest reason why is because the majority of these condos that have been built over the last decade have been, for lack of a better term or marketing term, like a dog crate condo so 500 square feet or less.'
The RBC report showed condos were leading the price decline, with Toronto's MLS home price index down 7.3 per cent annually, with Vancouver's down two per cent.
'Rising inventories have shifted market dynamics decisively in buyers' favour throughout Ontario and B.C., creating some of the most buyer-friendly conditions in decades,' said Hogue.
Piche highlighted that the uncertainty caused by tariffs and interest rates to nine months worth that would take the same amount of time to sell.
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The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board in their April report showed sales for a condo apartment dropped by 30 per cent year-over-year in April. The Greater Vancouver Realtors also showed significant decline compared to last year, with condos seeing a 20-per cent drop in sales.
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The biggest buyers of those condos have been investors and first-time home buyers, Piche noted, but added the uncertainty has 'scared off' the two primary buying groups for the condos.
For Piche, when to sell really depends on your current situation.
'I think the question is less about what month should you list in but what is that strategy behind it in terms of pricing and what your needs are,' Piche said.
'If you're happy to stay somewhere for five years or three years then, you know what, you can hold on and wait … But if you need to sell, I think it's incredibly risky to be waiting because we just don't know.'
But Moore paints a potentially starker picture for condo owners.
'People think, well, I'll wait until the fall to sell my condo, it's not going to be any better,' he said.
'It's not going to be better for 2026, it's not going to get any better for 2027. The condo prices are already inflated, you just need to take the loss if you're selling and move on.'
—with files from Global News' Uday Rana and Ariel Rabinovitch