The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) recently released its May market numbers, which showed a continued slowdown of sales in the Toronto market and sales-to-listings and revealed a buyer’s market.

CREA’s recent announcement of its report gives a glimpse of May's sales data, showing a 25.3 per cent drop in the Toronto region and a national sales-to-listings ratio of 41 per cent, according to a news announcement.

A range of 40-60 per cent for the sales-to-listing ratio is considered balanced and anything above and below is considered either a seller's market or a buyer’s market, respectively, CREA said in its announcement.

Looking at the market from a national perspective, this would be the first “balanced” market since 2015, according to CREA.

CREA’s president, Andrew Peck, said the drop in sales is part of the fallout from the Ontario Fair Housing Plan designed to curtail “unsustainable price growth.”

“Recent changes to housing policy in Ontario have quickly caused sales and listings to become more balanced in the GTA,” Peck said in the announcement. “Meanwhile, the balance between supply and demand in Vancouver is tightening up, while many places elsewhere in Canada remain amply supplied.”

The report also shows CREA adjusted its previous forecast for this year and is predicting a 1.5 per cent decline in national sales and a 0.8 per cent drop in 2018. According to CREA, the national home price in May rose 4.3 per cent year over year.