Early summer is in full swing with short sleeves and outdoor activities becoming a common sight.  While the warmer weather means more people are out and about, it is also typically the busiest time for Vancouver real estate market.  On the contrarily, April remain frothy with the third slowest month in sales for the month in the past 21 years, only behind 2019 and 2020 (pandemic).  One positive note is that there is certainly more traffic out there, from open houses to private viewings.  Nearly all segments have shifted from a Buyers market to a "fragile" balanced market.  Possibly due to the going oil crisis, some Buyers remain alarmingly cautious, and is passing on the trend of slump in sales.  Interestingly, last month's highlight was the divergence in market, with single house total inventory starting to soften, while townhouse and apartment remain plentiful.  One of the few possibilities is that single house Sellers, whom have tried many month to sell with no luck, simply got fed up and decided to de-list their home.  Since these single house Seller consist of some Baby Boomers who have bought 30+ years ago, they have baked enough equity in their home and can afford the luxury of deciding when to sell.  Historically, single house has been a leading indicator of the Vancouver real estate market, so it awaits to be seen whether this will trickle into other segments such as townhouse or apartments with increased sales in the coming months.  On the economic front, the Canadian economy continue to deteriorate with unemployment rate increasing to 6.9% (from 6.7%) and is the highest in the past.  Meanwhile, US stocks continue to set records highs month after month this year, and the ongoing oil crisis continue to the Canadian bond yields higher, and effectively taking mortgage rates higher as well.  Let's jump right in.

The Vancouver real estate market in April was in line with the overall trend this year, with the sales slumping towards 20 year lows.  April months of inventory is chopping sideways at 7.4 months and is nearly identical to March (for context, 4-6 months of inventory is a balanced market.)   Last month's demand has picked up slightly compared to March, but is still -22.9% below the 10 year average.  Meanwhile, the overall supply of total listings remain elevated and is at +37.9% above the 10 year average.  The spread between supply and demand is 60.8%, which is still significant but is better off than previous months where it once reached 70%.  April's monthly price index has slipped by -0.6%, after gaining +0.4% in March, which was the first seesaw between gains & losses in a while.  Having said that, the minor bump up in demand (especially in the single house sector, which we will get into later) may be a blip on the map, but could also be a sign of Buyers making a move after seeing some of the mortgage rates jump up in the past 2 months due to the higher Canadian bond rates in oil crisis.  Anecdotally, this spring I'm seeing more first time home buyers making a move, perhaps having taken their time in the past 3-6 months in their journey and finally found their "perfect" match.  The Buyer sales cycle is stretched much longer now, ranging from 3-9 months, with some over a year.  Compared to the past 20 years where Sellers dictated the market, Buyers barely had time to think, and with very little options to choose from.  Now that Buyers have navigated the market for months, they may have accepted the fact that, while the market is still trending downward, they are comfortable with their choice and timing (without being forced to make a decision like any bidding frenzy.)  Another group of buyers, the growing families and upsizers, are also seizing the opportunity to realize their single house dream of having a front and back yard.  Primarily this is due to the cost (price) of the upsizing gap is shrinking.   As single house sale prices continue to trended lower and prices dipped -8.4% in the past 12 months, Buyers may wonder: "Are we near the the bottom?"  Also, the Sellers' willingness to negotiate (even with a subject-to-sale clause) is what's motivating Buyers to come off the sidelines.  On the other side of the market, the townhouse and apartment segment's supply and demand remain relatively abundant  as the previous months this year.  Prices dropped slight by -0.4% and -0.5% respectively.  The ever-so-heightened volatility has created a persistently weak demand (same, if not worst than last year) so far in Vancouver real estate.  

On the economic front, the Canadian economy showed even more cracks with the unemployment rate edging higher to 6.9% (compared to 6.7% the month before).  The takeaway is it shed 49,000 full time jobs for the month, and only adding 29,000 part time jobs.  Anecdotally, I'm seeing more and more businesses closing.  Employees are losing jobs and it is taking much longer for them to find a new job, or they might have to settle for one with less pay.  Constructions workers as well are getting hit, with many pre-sale projects in Ontario and BC getting cancelled and developers going under.  Truth is, once these construction workers are done with one project, there are not much of other new projects to jump into.  Ontario is seeing the lowest building permit this year, and BC is right behind.  When there's no meat in the game for developers, projects get cancelled and construction workers may have to  acquire a new skill or switch to another field of work.  As the real estate is a huge cash cow in the Canadian economy, and when the real estate sales hit 25 year lows with prices and rents tanking, the widespread domino effect are hitting industries such as inspectors, notaries, furniture stores, property managers, home insurances, government tax income, and much more.  On the forefront, BC had 15,200 real estate agents in 2024, and now we have 14,000, which is a loss of 1,200 agents in less than two years.  It is unfortunate how heavily reliant the Canadian economy is on the real estate sector, but there is no way to sugar coat it.  In my opinion, until the real estate bleeding stops and we see prices level off, the Canadian economy will remain underwhelming.  I believe the upside is that  Canada's future lies in the extraction of its rich resources in oil & gas, which Mark Carney and the federal government seems to have waken up to the call and is finally linking with Alberta to building a possible pipeline.  If this were true, I can only imagine the widespread economic benefit it can be.  In Natural resources is what the world sorely needs from Canada, and the oil crisis has just presented Canada its best opportunity.     

In a global level, the US stock market continue to rip higher and higher to record highs.  Scary thing is, the same was report last month, so perhaps next month we might see another record high?  As of the printing of this, President Trump had just finished his visit in China with his entourage, which consists of Elon Musk (Tesla), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Tim Cook (Apple), Larry Fink (BlackRock), Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), Jane Fraser (Citi), David Solomon (Goldman Sachs), and more.  These elite billionaires were there to discuss the business potentials with China, in the amidst of the biggest oil crisis in history.  Having said that, the elevated oil prices may have trickled into the local Canadian economy in terms of everyday commuters, but also reflected on the Canadian bond yields, of which the fixed mortgage rates or benched off.  Even with the Bank of Canada recently months of repeated decision of keeping the overnight rates the same at 2.25%, the major banks have quietly ramped their fixed rates by nearly 0.4% since March, bringing some 5 year fixed rates above 4%.  Again, this is happening on the backdrop of a furthered weaken Canadian economy, with families getting hit with a double whammy of higher living costs AND higher mortgage costs .  As this will surely stretch the budget thin for young Canadian households, I would expect many to reduce spending and most likely via traveling due higher flight costs.  Or perhaps these families will pickup and leave BC and Ontario for greener pasture in Alberta or Edmonton, where there are more affordable homes and a lower standard of living.  As Vancouver real estate continues its sales slump, we will also see further negative population growth in major Canadian provinces.  The trend is reversing, the market is cycling, and the cleansing is happening.      

  
Some of the unique trends I've been observing:

1.  After a rare month of price gain in March of +0.4%, the Vancouver real estate quickly flipped back to its negative territory of -0.6% for the month of April.  The monthly price drop was quite evenly spread across segments, with single house, townhouse, and apartment at -0.8%, -0.4% and -0.5% respectively.  For context, prices have dropped -6.9% in the past 12 months, with certain pockets of neigbhorhood seeing double digit dips.  West Vancouver is leading the pack at whooping -12.8% in 12 months.

2.  The Canadian unemployment rates shot up to 6.9% (from 6.7% the month before).  Last month saw a lost of 49,000 full time jobs.  Diving deeper, there were a total of 112,000 net job loss for this year (Jan-April).  It's an understatement that these families are struggling, especially with the higher-than-ever living costs we face now.  For this reason, food bank lineups are now at record highs.   
     
3.  One of the more important trade agreements coming up for renewal is the CUSMA (Canadian-US-Mexico Agreement), with joint review on July 1st, 2026.  Keep in mind that Canada is still the ONLY country that has not made a deal on the tariffs with the US.  Perhaps CUSMA should be on high priority on Mark Carney's agenda.  

4.  Rent in Canada have declined on an annual basis for 19 consecutive months.  Across all major provinces, BC lead the way in falling rent at -5.9%, followed by Ontario (-5.2%) and Alberta (-3.1%).  On the other hand, increases were seen in Nova Scotia (+3.3%), Saskatchewan (+2.2%) and Manitoba (+1.3%).

5.  Canadian bond rates are creeping up, and as the fixed mortgage rates are benched off that, we are now seeing fixed rates edging higher, with major banks closing in or passing 4% on 5 year fixed rates.  Even when the Bank of Canada is keeping its overnight rate unchanged, Canadian major banks may keep this upping the rates as long as the oil crisis rips more uncertainty into the market.      


Here are the 3 highlights for April:

-  Total inventory of 15,710 units is the fifth highest April's total inventory in the past 21 years.  Total inventory is softening in the single house segment, while townhouse and apartment remain in abundant supply.  Demand shot up due to spring seasonality, causing the gap between supply and demand to shrink by a bit.    
-  Continuing last month's trend, the entry level single houses are starting to get multiple offers, and with takers.  Anecdotally, single house Buyers are now more comfortable in getting into the market.  On the flip side, apartments and townhouse sales are still up but still lagging behind.       
-  After a surprising month of price gain in March of +0.4%, last month the Vancouver real estate prices came back to Earth, with the benchmark home prices dropping -0.6% for April.  This brings a -0.3% price drop in benchmark price the past 3 months, and -2.6% drop in the past 6 months.  Buyers seems to have gotten used to this new norm heightened  volatility.      


Here are the in-depth statistics of the April: 

-  Last month's sales were -22.9% below the 10 year April's sales average (compared to -31.8% in March).  April was the first month this year that sales were in the low -20% (first 3 months were close to -30%).  
-  Month by month residential home sales increased by +4.4% from March.     
-  Month by month new home listings shot up by +14%.  This may seem like a lot, but Spring and April is typically when the most listings hit the market.     
-  Last month's price dropped by -0.6% (compared to +0.4% in March)
-  Sales-to-listing (or % of homes sold) ratio is increased significantly to 13.5% (compared to 14.2% in March).  By property type, the ratio is 11.3% for single houses, 15% for townhouses, and 14.7% for condos.

Download April 2026 Vancouver Real Estate Report