Housing Check Vancouver: condo sales fall 18.6 per cent

Housing Check is Canada News Media’s weekly look at one Canadian housing market. This week: Metro Vancouver.

Home sales in Metro Vancouver fell 8.4 per cent in September from a year earlier, held down by a drop in apartment sales, Greater Vancouver Realtors said on Oct. 2.

The board recorded 1,717 residential sales in September, down from 1,875 a year earlier and 25 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average. The all-property composite benchmark price was $1,075,900, down 5.5 per cent from September 2025 and 0.6 per cent from August.

The weakness was concentrated in condos. Apartment sales fell 18.6 per cent to 777, from 954 a year earlier. Detached sales rose 4.2 per cent to 575 and attached sales rose 0.6 per cent to 358.

The benchmark price of a detached home was $1,784,700, down 7.3 per cent from a year earlier and 0.8 per cent from August. Townhomes, which the board calls attached homes, were $1,016,700, down 4.7 per cent on the year and 1.2 per cent on the month. Apartments were $682,500, down 6.2 per cent on the year and 0.5 per cent on the month.

New listings totalled 5,852, down 10.3 per cent from September 2025 but 5.7 per cent above the 10-year average. Active listings fell four per cent from a year earlier to 16,394, which is 24.3 per cent above the long-term average.

The sales-to-active listings ratio was 10.9 per cent overall. It was 9.7 per cent for detached homes, 12.2 per cent for attached homes and 11.4 per cent for apartments. The board has said that a ratio sustained below 12 per cent has historically come with downward pressure on prices, and that a ratio sustained above 20 per cent has come with upward pressure.

Andrew Lis, the board’s chief economist and vice-president of data analytics, said the sales decline was confined to the apartment segment, which has typically made up about half of monthly sales in recent years. He said detached and attached sales finished slightly above last September, and attributed that to buyers who plan to live in the home driving the market while investors wait for better conditions.

Lis said slow sales combined with falling inventory have kept prices from declining too quickly. Small monthly declines have added up, he said, and prices in every segment are down roughly three per cent since the start of the year.

On the rental side, Rentals.ca and Urbanation’s September report put Vancouver’s average asking rent at $2,741, up 1.4 per cent from August and the largest monthly gain among Canada’s six largest rental markets. The average one-bedroom asked $2,373 and the average two-bedroom $3,271. The year-over-year decline in asking rents was the smallest since December 2023, according to the report as described by Daily Hive. In August, the city’s average asking rent was $2,704, down 3.4 per cent from a year earlier. Asking rents describe vacant listings and not what current tenants pay. The full figures are in the Rentals.ca national rent report.

The Bank of Canada held its policy interest rate at 2.25 per cent on Sept. 2. In its announcement, the central bank said inflation has run near three per cent, largely because of gasoline prices, while inflation excluding gasoline was 2.2 per cent. It said upside risks to its inflation forecast have increased.

The next rate decision is scheduled for Oct. 28, along with an updated Monetary Policy Report. Rate decisions move variable mortgage rates directly and influence fixed rates indirectly, so it is the next date buyers and homeowners in the Vancouver area will be watching.

Housing Check moves to a different city each week. Published mortgage rates and any new provincial housing rules were not included in this edition.

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