Niagara Association of REALTORS®

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Niagara Association of REALTORS® (NAR) totaled 637 units in May 2025. This was a substantial decline of 13.5% from May 2024.

Home sales were 30.2% below the five-year average and 25.7% below the 10-year average for the month of May.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 2,448 units over the first five months of the year. This was a sharp decrease of 32.2% from the same period in 2024.

“Sales activity declined to the lowest May reading since 2020 as buyers remain on the sidelines amid ongoing tariffs and general economic uncertainty,” said Sarah Hart, Executive Officer of the Niagara Association of REALTORS® (NAR). “Although new listings have been trending lower since peaking in the late fall of 2023, subdued demand is contributing to an ongoing accumulation of inventories on the market, which now stand at some of the highest levels in history. As a result of a softer market balance, MLS® Benchmark Prices are beginning to post consecutive year-over-year declines.”

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS® HPI composite benchmark price was $628,300 in May 2025, falling by 3.9% compared to May 2024.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $656,400, a modest decline of 1.9% on a year-over-year basis in May. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $568,800, down sharply by 10.1% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $405,200, a decrease of 8.7% from year-ago levels.

The average price of homes sold in May 2025 was $697,790, down modestly by 3.1% from May 2024.

The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $683,495, a minor decrease of 1.6% from the first five months of 2024.

The dollar value of all home sales in May 2025 was $444.5 million, a big reduction of 16.2% from the same month in 2024.

The number of new listings decreased by 5.1% from May 2024. There were 1,993 new residential listings in May 2025.

New listings were 3.1% below the five-year average and 16.9% above the 10-year average for the month of May.

Active residential listings numbered 3,808 units on the market at the end of May, a modest gain of 3.3% from the end of May 2024. Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of May in more than a decade.

Active listings were 34% above the five-year average and 57.7% above the 10-year average for the month of May.

Months of inventory numbered 6 at the end of May 2025, up from the 5 months recorded at the end of May 2024 and above the long-run average of 3.1 months for this time of year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.