VANCOUVER - The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says the number of home sales slid last month by nearly 26 per cent year-over-year while prices continued to climb.

Residential property sales in Metro Vancouver totalled 3,553 last month, a 25.7 per cent decline compared to a year ago.

Sales of detached homes fell 38.8 per cent from April 2016, while the composite benchmark price for those properties rose 8.1 per cent in that time, reaching $1,516,500.

The composite benchmark price for all homes was $941,100, 11.4 per cent higher than April 2016.

Vancouver's real estate market remains the most expensive in Canada, though Toronto is catching up, with prices rising at rates that have alarmed governments at various levels.

Last August, the B.C. government implemented a 15 per cent tax on foreigners purchasing properties in Metro Vancouver in a bid to cool down the city's housing market.