The average selling price of a Canadian home was $688,000 last month, a figure that has risen by more than 38% in the past year.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), which represents real estate agents across the country, said in a news release last week that while prices are still up sharply from a year ago, the gains appear to be moderating, pointing out that the $688,000 figure is down from $696,000 in April and just over $716,000 in March, which suggests that while comparisons to the early days of COVID show a red-hot market, it is in fact now cooling.

“While housing markets across Canada remain very active, we now have two months of moderating activity in the books, and that goes for demand, supply and prices,” CREA chair Cliff Stevenson said.

Aside from prices, the volume of homes sold also seems to be cooling compared to the peak it hit in March 2021. More than 56,000 homes were sold last month, which was more than twice as many as sold in the same month a year earlier. But last May was the slowest May for home sales on record, as sales were drastically curbed by the pandemic.