Vancouver-area home sales up 1.2% in September, still below long-term trend

For the sixth straight month, home prices in the Fraser Valley were on the decline.

Vancouver-area home sales inched up in September from last year, but prices are still under pressure as sales stand well below long-term trends while listings rise, said Greater Vancouver Realtors.

Sales totalled 1,875 in the month, a 1.2 per cent increase from last year but 20.1 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average, the board said Thursday. 

There were 6,527 new home listings in September, a 6.2 per cent increase from last year, leaving total listings up 14.4 per cent from a year earlier at 17,079 homes. The total number of homes for sale was 36.1 per cent above the 10-year seasonal average.

The rise in listings and tepid sales helped lead to a 3.2 per cent decline in the composite benchmark price of a home from last year, and 0.7 per cent lower from August, to $1,142,100.

While the market is under pressure, the association said last month’s interest rate cut from the Bank of Canada, with another expected before the end of the year, could help give some lift to the fall market.

“Easing prices, near-record high inventory levels, and increasingly favourable borrowing costs are offering those looking to purchase a home this fall with plenty of opportunity,” said Andrew Lis, the association’s director of economics and data, in a statement.

Detached home sales were up seven per cent in the month from last year as the benchmark price declined 4.4 per cent to $1,933,100. Apartment home sales rose 1.5 per cent as the category’s benchmark price also dropped 4.4 per cent, to $728,800. Attached home sales were down 5.8 per cent. 

While the market has been under pressure in recent years from interest rates, policy shifts and trade tensions, there is the potential for improvement in the months ahead, said Lis.

“With the acute impacts of these events now fading, we expect market activity to continue stabilizing to end the year, barring any unforeseeable major disruptions.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2025.