Home sales down across New Brunswick compared to last year

New Brunswick saw slumping home sales in April compared to last year.

Home sales in New Brunswick were down significantly last month compared to April of 2025, but one real estate expert says the market is finding its footing.

According to recent data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the number of homes sold through realtors in the province this April totaled 789 units, down 13 per cent from the same time last year.

CREA states home sales in New Brunswick were 9.4 per cent below the five-year average and 5.8 per cent below the 10-year average for April.

Justin Morehouse, Chair of the New Brunswick Realtors, said the market continued to “find its footing” for the month of April, with sales rising for a third straight month despite remaining below last year’s numbers.

“At the same time, a stronger flow of new listings has pushed inventory meaningfully higher, giving buyers more choice,” said Morehouse in a news release. “This is creating a more balanced environment, where neither buyers nor sellers can rely on last year’s playbook.”

There were declines in all areas of the province for home sales activity:

• Fredericton down 4.4 per cent
• Saint John down 8.3 per cent
• Greater Moncton down 10.5 per cent

In the northern parts of the province and elsewhere, sales were down 34.7 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

Martin Gallant of Creativ Realty in Moncton said April’s numbers are a significant drop.

“We are noticing we are accumulating inventory at a faster rate than we’re absorbing the inventory. There’s more sellers getting into the market than buyers and that’s the first time we’ve seen that in the last five or six years,” he said.

Gallant said many factors can create this kind of environment.

“We were predicting a stable market going into 2026, but because of rising prices, oil prices, uncertainty in the world. I know some of my clients said they were just going to wait on the sidelines and see what was going to play out,” he said. “I think people are anticipating prices to drop and that’s causing people to stay on the sidelines as well.”

Moncton eXp Realty’s Ryan Davison pointed to a different side of the story. “Because we’re in a balanced market, it’s actually a very healthy place to be. I know that may sound a little strange, but it is true,” he said.

Davison also noted there’s currently a lot of inventory on the market, giving people time to get out and visit properties and take their time with the home buying process.

He said sellers with well-maintained homes in good neighbourhoods might still see multiple offers.

Home sales totaled 2,411 units over the first four months of 2026, a decrease of six per cent over the same period in 2025.

However, Morehouse said real estate prices remain broadly stable compared to last year at this time.

As far as prices go, Davison also said the change from this time last year is basically flat.

“It’s very minor as far as that goes,” said Davison. “When you see the number of sales dropping off, that would start to nosedive. I feel that’s a reflection we still have here in the Maritimes and in particular the Moncton area.”

Gallant said buyers are starting to see a few bargains on the market.

“We’re noticing that buyers are able to negotiate a price down on homes that have been sitting on the market a little bit longer. Sellers are becoming a little more flexible with their pricing,” he said.

The overall benchmark price was $324,400 this April, a modest gain of 1.3 per cent compared to April of last year.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $325,800, up 1.5 per cent on a year-over-year basis for April.

Meanwhile, the benchmark price for townhouses and row units was $230,500, which was a slight decline of 0.7 per cent compared to April 2025.

The benchmark price for apartments was $270,000, a decline of 10.5 per cent from a year ago.

Overall, the total value of home sales in April 2026 was $286.9 million, a decrease of 10 per cent from this time last year.

Despite CREA’s statistics for April, Gallant said the market is not really in a bad place right now.

“It’s not a buyer’s market or a seller’s market necessarily, there are adjustments for agents to be able to succeed in the industry right nowhere the conversations are just a little bit different,” he said.

Both he and Davison as realtors say the housing boom the province experienced during the pandemic is over.

“You were selling by video, sight unseen purchases. Obviously, we’ve gotten away from that when we jumped five years forward,” said Davison. “Every single offer was coming in, if you wanted to win it, very aggressively overpriced. Houses didn’t even really need to be priced properly at the time because the market bid it up and up and up.”

Davison’s advice for buyers and sellers is to know the market.

“Make sure you know what the metrics are that are out there and what they mean to you,” he said. “Make sure you’re looking at the proper stats that are local and what they mean to you, because I think you’ll find it’s a healthier picture than what you’re seeing nationally.”

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