‘Sign' of the times: Surprising new indicator of B.C.'s sluggish real estate market

Global News

22-05-2025

Call it a sign of the times?
'There are so many listings right now in the Metro Vancouver area that there's not enough signposts,' Kaitlyn Herbst, realtor with MRKT Real Estate Group said.
'The company is actually offering, if we take down the signpost, if it's already sold property and give them their signpost back so that they can use it for a new client, they will give us money back on our next signpost.'
Herbst said in April there were more than 15,000 listings in the Greater Vancouver area.
'That's a lot of signs,' she said.
'I mean, condos don't always have signs and stuff, but buyers, they're just not showing up. They're a little bit uncertain with everything that's going on and kind of taking a little more time to look.'
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Real estate experts say it has been an interesting start to the year in Greater Vancouver.
'What we expected to happen was the market to be a little more active than what we've seen so far,' Andrew Lis, director of economics and data analytics at Greater Vancouver Realtors, told Global News.
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'Our forecast called for some growth in sales for the year, but sales have come in pretty slow since the beginning of the year.'
Lis said it could partially be due to the uncertainty brought about by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, the political uncertainty around the Canadian election and the federal government's overall housing strategy plan.
'So it could be a number of factors keeping buyers on the sidelines, but things have been sort of quiet on the buy side,' Lis said.
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'On the sell side, we have a lot of people coming to market with their property. So we're actually at a point right now where we have some of the highest levels of inventory we've seen in almost over a decade. So a really interesting time right now for the market.'
Lis said that sales are down about 24 per cent year-over-year.
'They're hanging below our 10-year seasonal averages, you know, around 20, 30 per cent. They've kind of been around those levels for some time.'
Lis said that the market started to pick up late last year but has been slower in the first part of 2025.
'On the inventory side, however, what we've seen is a pretty significant increase in inventory levels in our region,' he added.
'Our inventory level in the Greater Vancouver region that we track at our board has surpassed the 16,000 mark, which we have not seen in over about a decade.'
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Lis said that for buyers, it's a good thing as there is finally some choice across the board — condos, detached houses and townhouses.
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However, they have seen more sales of detached homes than attached or apartments.
'Generally, price trends have been fairly flat over the past few months and even actually over the last couple of years,' Lis said.
'There's some very small minor ups and downs — a per cent here, up, down a per cent there — but generally the price trend has been flat and that's been pretty much true across all product types.'
Herbst said she has never seen a market like this.
'When a couple years ago there was no subjects, you were buying places, sight unseen,' she said.
'I had clients buy homes I had never actually seen. Subject free, all that. Now we've got, 'Okay, we'll come back and see you a second time'.'
Herbst said there are even sellers adding incentives to lure in prospective buyers.
'There is one home (in Langley) that is for sale that the realtor is offering a Disney Cruise to the buyers of this family home. A four-person Disney cruise,' she said.
'It's not cheap, but it's a way to make it stand out. It's a way to get those families through the door. And there's a lot of options for those buyers. So it's comparing apples to apples, but this one I get to go on a trip with my family.'