Metro Vancouver real estate sales slump despite favourable buying conditions
Metro Vancouver real estate sales continued to slump in August, with experts citing the immigration slowdown, weak demand from investors, and mortgage rates that are still too high to entice buyers.
The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) and Greater Vancouver Realtors (GVR) recently released their monthly reports on August real estate sales, reporting both fewer sales and fewer homes on the market.
Andrew Lis, the chief economist and vice-president of data analytics for GVR, said that they’ve observed that real estate inventory levels “have receded from their 2025 heights.”
“This gradual decline, paired with slower-than-usual sales, has caused prices to drift downwards across all market segments,” he said in a release.
GVR reported that home sales in Metro Vancouver declined by 4.6 per cent compared to August last year. In August 2026, there were 1,869, down from the 1,959 sales in August 2025. This is 20.7 per cent lower than the 10-year seasonal average.
Further, GVR said that the total number of properties listed for sale declined by 2.7 per cent from the previous year. But it is still 26.2 per cent above the 10-year seasonal average.
Normally, the current real-estate conditions —lots of selection, softening prices, and stable mortgage rates — are considered favourable buying conditions, Lis said.
Greater Vancouver Realtors
“But they haven’t been enough to bring many buyers off the sidelines. While the renewed trade tensions with the USA are an unwelcome distraction for the market, we still believe the main drivers of this soft market are the slowdown in immigration to our region, reduced investor demand, and mortgage rates that aren’t low enough to incentivize robust buying activity.”
Metro Vancouver’s composite benchmark price for all residential prices is $1,081,900, a 5.6 per cent decrease from August 2025, and a 0.3 per cent decrease from July 2026.
The FVREB reported similar trends, with a 14 per cent drop in real estate sales from July. They recorded a one per cent increase above sales year-over-year.
“The year-over-year increase marks only the second annual gain since the beginning of 2025, a modest bright spot in a market where overall demand remains subdued, and prices continue to ease,” reads the press release from FVREB.
And like GVR, FVREB saw fewer homes come on the market. With 2,373 new listings in August, it was a 16 per cent decline from July and a 15 per cent decline year-over-year.
“We’re seeing a bit of a tug-of-war between buyers and sellers right now,” said Ishaq Ismail, FVREB’s chair, in the release.
“Some buyers are seeing an opportunity to negotiate below asking price, while sellers who need to sell are more likely to accept lower offers. That dynamic is contributing to the gradual decline in home prices we are seeing across the Fraser Valley, which ultimately creates more opportunities for those looking to get into the market.”
The composite Benchmark price for a typical Fraser Valley home was at $869,900, a seven per cent decrease from August 2025.