Vancouver home sales tick 2% lower in July, but market is turning a corner: real estate board

CBC

05-08-2025

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Vancouver-area home sales were down two per cent in July compared with last year, as the city's real estate board says it continues to believe the market is showing early signs of recovery.
Greater Vancouver Realtors said residential sales in the region totalled 2,286 last month, down from the 2,333 sales recorded in July 2024 and 13.9 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average.
The board's director of economics and data analytics, Andrew Lis, said the figures confirm that the market has turned a corner after months of slow activity spurred by the Canada-U.S. trade war.
"Although the Bank of Canada held the policy rate steady in July, this decision could help bolster sales activity by providing more certainty surrounding borrowing costs at a time where economic uncertainty lingers due to ongoing trade negotiations with the USA," Lis said in a press release.
Year-over-year sales were down around 10 per cent in June, roughly half of the decline recorded in May.
The composite benchmark price in July was $1,165,300, down 2.7 per cent from a year earlier and 0.7 per cent lower than June.
There were 5,642 newly listed properties on the market in July, a 0.8 per cent increase from last year and 12.4 per cent above the 10-year seasonal average.
Total active listings rose 19.8 per cent year-over-year to 17,168, which was 40.2 per cent above usual levels for the month.
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"Although sales activity is now recovering, this healthy level of inventory is sufficient to keep home prices trending sideways over the short term as supply and demand remain relatively balanced," said Lis.
"However, if the recovery in sales activity accelerates, these favourable conditions for homebuyers may begin slowly slipping away, as inventory levels decline, and home sellers gain more bargaining power."
Sales in the detached homes category were down 4.1 per cent year-over-year to 660 last month, while 2.9 per cent fewer apartments changed hands at 1,158.
There were 459 attached home sales, a five per cent increase compared with July 2024.
Real estate in the Fraser Valley
The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) in Surrey, B.C. says that while market conditions are ideal for home buyers this summer, that price expectations between sellers and buyers remain a barrier in sales.
On the company website, the board recorded 1,190 sales on its listing software in July, down half a per cent from June and down three per cent year-over-year. July sales were 23 per cent below the 10-year average.
The supply of homes for sale dipped slightly in July, down two per cent from June to 10,650, nearly 50 per cent above the 10-year seasonal average.
New listings declined five per cent over June to 3,453.
According to the FVREB, the Fraser Valley is a buyer's market with an overall sales-to-active listings ratio of 11 per cent; the market is considered balanced when the ratio is between 12 per cent and 20 per cent.
Tore Jacobsen, chair of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, says that "home sellers are having to work harder than they did a year or two ago."
"In a market where buyers are cautious and have ample choice, successful sellers are going the extra mile to meet buyers where they're at — staging their home, handling repairs up front, and most importantly, pricing their homes realistically for the current market conditions."
A single-family detached home and a condo took an average of 38 days to sell in July, while townhomes took an average of 35 days to sell across the Fraser Valley.
Baldev Gill, CEO of the FVREB, says that "the housing market, like other sectors, continues to process the effects of the ongoing tariff threats."
"The slowdown in home sales this spring and summer has largely been driven by uncertainty and fear."
"Buyers and sellers are taking measures to offset the anticipated impacts, knowing that the economic effects of tariffs will likely take some time to be fully realized throughout the system."