Active listings

Active listings are the homes for sale on the MLS system at a point in time, usually the end of the month. They are the market's inventory: the supply buyers can choose from, and the stock that months of inventory and the sales-to-active-listings ratio divide into sales.

How it is read

Inventory rises when new listings outpace sales and falls when they sell faster than they arrive. Rising inventory gives buyers choice and time, and it is the mechanism by which a slowdown in sales turns into lower prices: sellers compete with more neighbours. Compare it with a year earlier, not the previous month, because listings are seasonal, building through spring and thinning out over the holidays.

Inventory can be high and the market still tight at the price points buyers want: condos and houses do not substitute for each other, so boards and our pages report them apart where they can.

How the boards publish it

Most boards count listings active on the last day of the month. The Quebec boards average the active listings over the quarter for their quarterly areas. Greater Vancouver counts every listing for the area, including the ones with no sale that month.

Active listings in each market now

Across the 13 markets whose boards publish it, it runs from 588 in Burlington to 26,131 in the Greater Toronto Area.

Each market's latest report, as each board publishes them; the market pages have the area-by-area figures. Markets whose board does not publish this measure are not listed.

Related terms and pages

• New listings
• Months of inventory
• Sales-to-active-listings ratio
• Housing market reports
• Every term