Prices softened, inventory swelled – and 2026 looks strategic, not spectacular
The air had gone out of Greater Vancouver’s housing market by late 2025. According to REMAX Canada, average residential prices slipped 3.8% year over year to $1,243,360, sales fell 9.4% to 20,332, while listings jumped 23% to 15,790 – a classic recipe for softer values and longer decision times for buyers and sellers alike.
By 2026, industry forecasts points to a region hovering between a buyers’ and balanced market, depending on property type.
Entry‑level and lower‑priced homes, especially those with suites, remain tight and tilt toward sellers, while higher‑end and luxury stock accumulate, giving well‑financed buyers more room to negotiate.
Single detached homes are expected to lead demand and sales activity across the region next year.
Royal LePage’s national outlook cast 2026 as a “reset” rather than a rebound, with aggregate Canadian prices rising just 1%, and Vancouver one of the few big markets still under pressure. The firm projects a 3.5% decline in the aggregate price of a Greater Vancouver home, to about $1.15 million.
Over the same period, single-family home prices are expected to drop 5% to $1,610,915, while condo prices are forecast to fall 3% to $712,853.
“Momentum in the Vancouver housing market continues to decline. Sales remain well below the region’s ten-year average, and growing inventory levels are sitting longer as buyers hold back. This year’s slower-than-usual fall market suggests that softer conditions may persist for some time,” said Randy Ryalls, managing broker, Royal LePage Sterling Realty.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation projected that Vancouver’s resale market would rebound in 2025 after two years of declining activity, with only “marginal growth in sales and prices in 2026 and 2027” as high inventory tempered gains.
Locally, the numbers already point to a buyers’ tilt. The next year looks less like a comeback year and more like an opportunity year: one where well‑capitalized buyers, move‑up owners and long‑term investors could quietly reset their positions while the market trade sideways.
Vancouver’s next phase would reward advice‑driven strategies over volume chasing, as clients try to use a rare window of softer prices and still‑favourable rates to secure the right property before the cycle turns again.
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