The ongoing global pandemic continues to put a damper on Canada's real estate market, with the industry reporting a "marked slowdown" since measures were introduced in mid-March to slow the spread of the virus.

A new report from the brokerage and analysis firm Zoocasa shows that average Canadian home prices dropped a whopping 10 per cent between between February (before any government lockdown measures came into effect) and April (the first full month to take place in pandemic mode.)

The average home price in Canada is currently $488,203, down from $539,724 in February, according to Zoocasa, which used data from the Canadian Real Estate Association to analyze how the market has changed in recent months.

Home sales have also fallen rapidly across the country since the pandemic hit, declining by 46 per cent on the whole from 38,161 sales in February to 20,630 in April. New listings dropped roughly 42 per cent from coast-to-coast over the same period of time.

Of course, when broken down by province and city, we see very different sorts of pictures emerge.

For a snapshot of how market activity shifted in the short run since COVID-19 measures were introduced, Zoocasa used data from @CREA_ACI to compare average home prices and sales between Feb and April for 20 real estate markets across the country: https://t.co/UjQ2Yc8v94

— Zoocasa (@zoocasa) May 22, 2020

"Regionally, some of Canada's largest markets experienced a rate of sales decline that outpaced the national average. Canada's largest housing market – Greater Toronto – noted substantial declines in both average home price and sales," reads the Zoocasa report. 

"Sales in particular dropped 59 per cent, with 2,975 versus 7,256 in April. Similarly, Hamilton-Burlington and Niagara also noted sales declines of 52 and 55 per cent each." 

Montreal was even harder-hit, however, with sales figures dropping 65 per cent between February and April — and unlike Toronto, where average sale prices have dropped significantly, Montreal prices are falling at a much lower rate.

Home prices in Montreal declined by just $5,125 between February and April of 2020 to reach $424,720, while GTA homes dropped a gob-smacking $88,898 over the same period of time, declining 10 per cent to hit $821,392.

Ottawa saw home prices go down by $34,652 to reach $475,487 and Hamilton-Burlington saw an average price decline of $32,255 for a current average home price of $614,412, reflecting the wider trend of pretty much everthing declining within the province of Ontario.

Some Canadian cities actually saw an increase in home prices, however, between February and April, most notably Greater Vancouver (up 2 per cent), Gatineau (up 4 per cent), Winnipeg (up 7 per cent) and  Saskatoon (up 10 per cent.)

You can see a full breakdown of the trends in both home sales and prices below, and learn more about whether your region is currently a buyer's, seller's or balanced market by reading Zoocasa's full report.