'Firmly in a buyer's market': Fraser Valley home sales see notable decline from 2025
While home sales in parts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley went up slightly in February from the month before, they still faced a substantial drop in value year-over-year.
According to data from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB), home sales increased by over 32 per cent compared to January 2026, but declined by 8.4 per cent compared to February 2025.
FVREB’s jurisdiction spans eastern and southern areas of Metro Vancouver and the western areas of the Fraser Valley, encompassing Surrey, Langley, White Rock, and North Delta, as well as Abbotsford and Mission.
In a news release, they said this area “remains firmly in a buyer’s market.”
It had “an overall sales-to-active listings ratio of ten per cent in February. A balanced market is typically defined by a ratio between 12 and 20 per cent,” the release reads.
A buyer’s market is when the housing inventory for sale exceeds the buyers looking to purchase, according to Tore Jacobsen, the chair of FVRB.
This results in buyers having more time to purchase a home and the ability to negotiate price.
“It equates into a downward pressure on price, as sellers have to accommodate for that high level of inventory that competitors, other sellers, to attract buyers to their property,” he told Daily Hive in an interview.
Real-estate inventory in the Fraser Valley real estate market is above seasonal norms, with 8,344 active listings as of March 3 — up eight per cent from January and a whopping 51 per cent above the 10-year seasonal average.
In February, it took an average of 47 days to sell a single-family detached home, 45 days for a condo, and 39 days for a townhome. These sales were just slightly faster than January 2026, when properties were all on the market for 50 days or more.
The composite benchmark price declined by 0.2 per cent in February to $895,100.
A single-family detached home decreased by 8.6 per cent ($1,499,000 to $1,370,900) compared to February 2025, a townhome by 7.1 per cent ($829,800 to $770,700), and an apartment by eight per cent ($538,200 to $488,300).
The decline in housing prices started in 2024, Jacobsen said. He pointed to high interest rates at the time (which have since come down), rising costs of living, and economic uncertainty due to tariffs and the broader geopolitical landscape as factors that might have contributed to the soft market.
Further, the Fraser Valley was attractive to buyers during the pandemic, due to the lower price point of houses compared to Greater Vancouver and the newfound ability to work remotely. However, with more back-to-office mandates, people might be selling in order to move back closer to the city and their offices, Jacobsen explained.
Why aren’t people buying in a buyer’s market?
Even though both home prices and mortgage rates have dropped, people still aren’t buying homes.
“Why, in the environment we’re in, which is conducive to purchase activity and positive scenarios, the sales are not happening?” He said. “Why, in light of all of these things happening, creating a landscape that should be attractive to buyers, we don’t have anyone buying?”
The region’s home sales also dropped by 16 per cent from 2024 to 2025, making it the slowest sales year since 2000, and the first full-year buyer’s market in 25 years.
With files from Kenneth Chan