Vancouver’s red-hot housing market starting to cool
Frank O'Brien, Western Investor • May 18, 2021
Sales ‘ froth’ coming off as higher supply begins to meet buyer demand across Greater Vancouver, early April data shows.
As of April 15, home sales were down fractionally from the same period a month earlier, with 2,402 transactions compared to 2,663 sold as of mid-March, according to early data from the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board, but the number of active listings increased to 10,301, up from 9,467 at the same time a month earlier.
The sales-to-listing ratio dipped to 59 per cent in mid-April, down from 62 per cent in mid-March.
The changes may seem minor, but April was the first month-over-month decline in sales in nearly a year and veteran real estate agents say the signals are clear.
“While the beat carries on, the tune is a little different this month. The volume has come down a little on Greater Vancouver’s real estate market,” said Kevin Skipworth, managing broker with Dexter Associates Realty in Vancouver, who supplied the early April data.
Kush Panatch, president of residential developer Panatch Group, said the market exuberance of the last 10 months, characterized by multiple offers and homes selling for well over the asking price, was based largely on buyers’ psychological fear of missing out.
“I saw some very intelligent people make less than stellar decisions,” Panache said, who noted he has seen similar wild, short swings in the market half a dozen times through his 30 years in Greater Vancouver real estate.
The fear of missing out will end soon, he predicted.
“You have already missed out,” said Panatch. He believes Metro Vancouver sales are now cycling into a “gentle market downturn” that will likely continue for some months.
“This is not a market correction, but the crazy froth in the market is ending,” he added.
Panatch, who sold out a 290-unit Port Moody condo development in the last year noted the final 100 units sold in less than three months.
“When we launched last March, just as the pandemic was starting, it would take buyers four to six weeks to make a decision to buy. By this March, decisions were being made in a day,” he said, even though he raised prices by from $10,000 to $50,000 per condo unit.
Panatch said a lot of developers who had delayed new strata project launches last year rushed to get their units onto the market as demand and prices began to increase last fall. There was also an increase in condo investors, he added, especially in pre-sales of concrete tower condo projects.
As a result, Metro Vancouver housing starts soared 115 per cent in March, to 3,711 units, compared to March 2020, and nearly 90 per cent of the supply was condo apartments.
This new strata supply, Panatch said, combined with rising new resale listings, will flatten Greater Vancouver’s steady increase in prices, which were 11 per cent higher in March than a year earlier.
“I don’t see prices coming down, ” he said.
Panatch and Skipworth both believe that a post-pandemic period, with an expected upturn in immigration and foreign buyers, and a strengthening economy, will begin the next up cycle in Greater Vancouver housing sales.
After soaring 128 per cent in March to set an all-time sales record, Greater Vancouver’s red-hot housing market is starting to cool down, early April data shows
As of April 15, home sales were down fractionally from the same period a month earlier, with 2,402 transactions compared to 2,663 sold as of mid-March, according to early data from the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board, but the number of active listings increased to 10,301, up from 9,467 at the same time a month earlier.
The sales-to-listing ratio dipped to 59 per cent in mid-April, down from 62 per cent in mid-March.
The changes may seem minor, but April was the first month-over-month decline in sales in nearly a year and veteran real estate agents say the signals are clear.
“While the beat carries on, the tune is a little different this month. The volume has come down a little on Greater Vancouver’s real estate market,” said Kevin Skipworth, managing broker with Dexter Associates Realty in Vancouver, who supplied the early April data.
Kush Panatch, president of residential developer Panatch Group, said the market exuberance of the last 10 months, characterized by multiple offers and homes selling for well over the asking price, was based largely on buyers’ psychological fear of missing out.
“I saw some very intelligent people make less than stellar decisions,” Panache said, who noted he has seen similar wild, short swings in the market half a dozen times through his 30 years in Greater Vancouver real estate.
The fear of missing out will end soon, he predicted.
“You have already missed out,” said Panatch. He believes Metro Vancouver sales are now cycling into a “gentle market downturn” that will likely continue for some months.
“This is not a market correction, but the crazy froth in the market is ending,” he added.
Panatch, who sold out a 290-unit Port Moody condo development in the last year noted the final 100 units sold in less than three months.
“When we launched last March, just as the pandemic was starting, it would take buyers four to six weeks to make a decision to buy. By this March, decisions were being made in a day,” he said, even though he raised prices by from $10,000 to $50,000 per condo unit.
Panatch said a lot of developers who had delayed new strata project launches last year rushed to get their units onto the market as demand and prices began to increase last fall. There was also an increase in condo investors, he added, especially in pre-sales of concrete tower condo projects.
As a result, Metro Vancouver housing starts soared 115 per cent in March, to 3,711 units, compared to March 2020, and nearly 90 per cent of the supply was condo apartments.
This new strata supply, Panatch said, combined with rising new resale listings, will flatten Greater Vancouver’s steady increase in prices, which were 11 per cent higher in March than a year earlier.
“I don’t see prices coming down, ” he said.
Panatch and Skipworth both believe that a post-pandemic period, with an expected upturn in immigration and foreign buyers, and a strengthening economy, will begin the next up cycle in Greater Vancouver housing sales.
Some days you’re polished. Some days you’re just… memorable. Check out LAPS for adoptables 😀
SURREY, BC – Decade-high inventory and softer prices failed to spark buyer demand in the Fraser Valley in 2025. Despite favourable conditions and increased negotiating power, many buyers stayed on the sidelines, making it one of the slowest years for sales in decades. The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board recorded 12,224 sales on its Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in 2025, a decline of 16 per cent over 2024 and 33 per cent below the 10-year average. The City of Surrey accounted for the majority of 2025 sales at 48 per cent, with Langley and Abbotsford accounting for 24 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. On the supply side, buyers had more choice than at any point in the past four decades, as new listings climbed to 37,963. The composite Benchmark home price in the Fraser Valley closed the year at $905,900, down six per cent year-over-year, and down 24 per cent from the peak in March 2022.
The number of court-ordered sales in Metro Vancouver is jumping, and may continue to grow as a mortgage renewal wave hits Canada five years after the pandemic-era real estate frenzy. Court-ordered inventory, while less than one per cent of the market, totalled 119 properties in the Vancouver region in October 2025, compared with 66 in October 2024 and 28 in October 2023, according to real estate website Zealty.ca (Zealty Online Search Inc.). Foreclosures are becoming more frequent because home prices are correcting, unemployment is rising and people who bought during the pandemic are having to renew their mortgages at higher interest rates, said Adam Major, managing broker with Sechelt-based Holywell Properties. There was a massive increase in home sales from late 2020 through 2022, he said. “This was the height of COVID craziness when [Bank of Canada governor] Tiff Macklem promised rates would stay low forever, the government was sending everyone free money and we all wanted a bigger house to work from home in,” he said. Those homes were financed at rock-bottom interest rates, with the central bank’s policy rate sitting at 0.25 per cent from March 2020 to March 2022. Because Canadian banks generally offer maximum terms of five years, it’s now time for many to pay the piper—at interest rates higher than what some can afford. “It is definitely a bad sign for the market as we are only at the beginning of the big mortgage renewal wave,” Major said. The most sales ever in a month in the region were the 5,715 sales in March 2021, he said. “Those buyers will have to renew this coming March. The number of renewals will stay elevated for a year after that. The average discount mortgage rate in March 2021 was 1.69 per cent versus about 3.79 per cent now, so almost everyone who bought in 2021 and 2022 will be paying significantly more on renewal,” he said. 👉 Read the Article Here
