Vancouver Buyers Keep the Upper Hand, but Prices Show Signs of Steadying | June 2026

Detached homes, condos and townhouses all favour buyers, yet a near-term firming in detached and townhouse prices hints the year-long slide may be slowing.

The Market at a Glance

All three of Metro Vancouver's main housing segments favour buyers this quarter, a clear contrast with the tightening seen in some other Canadian markets. Detached homes, condos and townhouses each carry the elevated inventory that hands buyers negotiating power. Yet the near-term price signals are mixed: detached and townhouse values have steadied or firmed over the past three months even as condos continue to soften, suggesting the year-long decline may be losing momentum in parts of the market.

Detached Houses: A Buyer's Market That Is Firming

Detached homes remain a buyer's market, with 9.5 months of inventory, little changed from 9.8 a year ago. Demand has barely moved, up 1 per cent, while active listings slipped 1 per cent, leaving supply and demand in a near standoff.

The price trend is where the story turns. The benchmark detached home has fallen 7 per cent over the past year, from $1,997,400 to $1,847,900. Over the past three months, however, that benchmark has edged up 1 per cent, the first sign that the annual decline may be flattening out. Buyers still hold the cards, but the window of falling prices may be narrowing.

Condo Apartments: Still Sliding

The condo market is the softest of the three. It remains a buyer's market at 6.9 months of inventory, essentially flat against 6.8 a year ago, but momentum continues to run in buyers' favour. Both sides of the ledger have weakened: demand dropped 7 per cent while active listings fell 5 per cent, meaning buyer appetite is cooling faster than supply.

Prices reflect that. The benchmark condo has dropped 8 per cent over the past year, from $757,300 to $697,800, and slipped a further 1 per cent over the past three months. Unlike the detached segment, condos show no sign yet of a floor.

Townhouses: Soft Demand, Tighter Supply

Townhouses sit in buyer's-market territory but are quietly tilting toward sellers. Months of inventory fell 14 per cent, from 7.2 to 6.2, the sharpest move of any Vancouver segment. The driver is supply, not demand: active listings plunged 19 per cent while demand itself fell 6 per cent. With sellers pulling back faster than buyers, the balance has tightened despite a soft market mood.

Prices have held. The benchmark townhouse is down 5 per cent over the past year, from $1,106,800 to $1,048,200, but has remained flat over the past three months, in line with the steadying seen in detached homes.

The Risk Picture

Vancouver's size remains a backstop. A deep buyer pool means sellers can still find takers even in a slow market, limiting the downside for anyone who needs to list.

Interest rates remain low and the central bank has paused, a setting that supports buyer budgets. Rates are unlikely to climb until policymakers are confident the conditions that prompted the cuts have passed, and the full effect of any future tightening can take up to 18 months to work through the economy.

Affordability is the glaring risk. At 20.5 times the local median household income, benchmark detached prices are among the most stretched in the country, far beyond the four-to-six-times range generally viewed as sustainable, and squarely in bubble-risk territory. Condos are less extreme but still elevated at 7.8 times income, a level at which many units could be overvalued and one that has come with moderate price volatility. New construction across both segments sits at typical levels, so the market should absorb completed units without adding pressure to prices.

The Bottom Line

Vancouver remains a buyer's market on paper, with inventory across every segment sitting at levels that favour those doing the purchasing. But the near-term signals are diverging. Detached and townhouse prices have steadied while condos keep sliding, and shrinking townhouse supply is quietly rebuilding sellers' leverage. The deeper issue is unchanged: at more than 20 times income for detached homes, Vancouver's affordability gap is among the most extreme in the country, a structural strain that no quarterly shift in inventory can resolve.