Vancouver Housing Market Report

Greater Vancouver Housing Market Overview

Note: The MLS HPI benchmark price represents the value of a ‘typical’ home in the area.

Home Prices by Property Type

In April 2026, the average home price in Greater Vancouver was $1,209,774. The average sale price of detached houses decreased by 3.7% from April 2025 to reach $1,928,062, which is 3.0% lower than in March. The average price of an attached house in Greater Vancouver decreased by 1.5% relative to last April to reach $1,199,238, which is 1.9% lower than in March. Apartment prices declined by 6.9% year-over-year to $749,692, which is 1.2% higher than last month.

The benchmark price of homes in Metro Vancouver was $1,098,000 in April 2026, a 6.9% decrease year-over-year and a 0.6% monthly decrease. Benchmark prices of detached houses in Vancouver declined 8.3% over the past year and fell 0.8% over the past month to reach $1,840,700 for April 2026. Vancouver's attached home (townhouse) benchmark price is $1,043,400, down 5.1% year-over-year and down 0.4% month-over-month in April 2026. Apartment benchmark prices decreased 7.9% year-over-year and 0.5% month-over-month to $703,000.

Sales & Inventory

In April 2026, 2,110 homes in Vancouver were sold, representing a 2.5% decrease from April 2025. These sales included 659 detached homes, 1,009 apartments, and 433 attached homes. Metro Vancouver's housing market had 16,236 active listings at the end of April 2026, up 0.2% from last year and up 9.9% from March's 14,774 listings. Inventory remains well above the 10-year seasonal average of 11,773.

The 6,684 new listings this month represent a 2.4% decrease year-over-year. These numbers put Vancouver's sales-to-active listings ratio at 13.5% for April 2026, compared with 14.2% for March 2026.

Vancouver's sales-to-new listings ratio (SNLR) was 32% for April. Over seven months of inventory suggests a buyer's market.

Vancouver benchmark home prices have increased by 214% since January 2005. This translates into a cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5%.

Long-Term Trends

Metro Vancouver remains one of the most expensive housing markets in Canada. Vancouver has been a pricey housing market for many years, and its current benchmark price has increased by merely 11.5% over the past 10 years, compared with approximately 31% inflation. This decline in real home prices has occurred despite an increase in population.

Vancouver vs Toronto

Toronto's competition with Vancouver regarding home unaffordability is relatively recent, as Greater Toronto home prices have climbed by 47% over the decade to reach a Benchmark price of $941,800 in March 2026. This 10-year growth is despite a 26% price decline from the peak of $1,279,800 in Toronto benchmark home prices in February 2022. Toronto's home price growth over the past decade was significantly higher than the 11.5% rise in Vancouver home prices over the same duration. Given that Vancouver began its restrictive zoning at least two decades before Toronto, it is no surprise that Vancouver became an unaffordable city much earlier than Toronto.

Long-Term Trend

Over the past 20 years, the 159% growth in Vancouver home prices has been much faster than either the 54% inflation or approximately 90% wage growth. In other words, building houses (producing shelter) has been more difficult than making most other goods and services. Many claim that land is a limited resource, and thus, house building faces a natural limitation. This is incorrect, as there is no natural limitation on increasing population density.

For example, the Vancouver CMA land area is 2,879 km², while the population of Vancouver CMA is 3,088,000; thus, the population density in the Vancouver metropolitan area is around 1,070/km², while the population density in the city-state of Singapore is approximately 8,100/km². So, land is not the limiting factor for sheltering people. In cities like Vancouver, the primary constraint on new housing is not land scarcity but restrictive municipal zoning and development regulations. The impact of these regulations has been quantified by Statistics Canada on behalf of CMHC in the Municipal Land Use and Regulation Survey.

Macroeconomic Factors

Heightened economic uncertainty stemming from trade tensions between Canada and the United States continues to impact Canadian housing markets across multiple regions. A deterioration in cross-border trade relations reduces consumer confidence and business investment, leading to fewer jobs in trade-dependent sectors and putting downward pressure on sales volumes and property values. The effects remain most pronounced in regions with economies closely tied to U.S. trade, such as Ontario's manufacturing corridor and British Columbia's lumber industry.

Adding to this backdrop, the escalating conflict in the Middle East has moved well beyond background geopolitical risk. Following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February 2026, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz — the chokepoint through which roughly a quarter of the world's seaborne oil and a fifth of global LNG normally flows. With the strait still effectively blocked and active naval confrontations ongoing as of early May, global energy prices have risen sharply, with Brent crude climbing above $110 a barrel. For Canada, which exports oil, higher energy prices offer some fiscal benefit — but the broader inflationary effect pushes up bond yields and, with them, fixed mortgage rates. This tightens borrowing conditions for Canadian homebuyers at a time when affordability is already stretched.

Consumer sentiment remains cautious as economic uncertainty persists. The Bank of Canada has cut rates substantially throughout 2025, bringing the policy rate down one full percentage point during the last year. Yet the influence of rate cuts on housing appears to be waning — particularly if inflation re-accelerates due to the energy shock. A more stable market had shifted the focus toward housing's intrinsic value, with less influence from speculative sentiment or the fear of missing out (FOMO), but renewed inflationary pressure could complicate that picture heading into summer.

While monetary policy impacts all of Canada, real estate remains highly local. Ontario and BC, which heavily influence national price trends, saw housing bubbles fueled by ultra-low interest rates post-2008 and during the pandemic.

Regulatory & Structural Constraints

Over the past few decades, municipal restrictions on housing supply have kept availability low while investors leveraged borrowing to acquire more properties. This occurred despite Ontario and British Columbia prioritizing tenant security over landlord property rights. The belief in perpetual home price appreciation gave mortgage rates a key role in shaping the market. However, recent volatility challenges this assumption, encouraging more disciplined borrowing and reducing the influence of monetary policy on housing.

April 2026 Summary

April 2026 continued the pattern of below-average sales activity in Metro Vancouver. With 2,110 transactions, sales were down 2.5% from April 2025. New listings also declined, with 6,684 properties listed during the month, representing a 2.4% decrease compared to April 2025. Active inventory reached 16,236 listings, up 0.2% year-over-year and 9.9% from March.

With sales subdued and inventory elevated, prices continued to ease year-over-year across all property types. The benchmark price fell 0.6% from March to $1,098,000, while the sales-to-active listings ratio of 13.5% keeps the market firmly in buyer's market territory.

Home Prices in Vancouver

Metro Vancouver Housing Market Statistics for All Property Types

Market Overview for Detached Homes in Metro Vancouver

Market Overview for Attached Homes in Metro Vancouver

Market Overview for Condo Apartments in Metro Vancouver