Greater Vancouver is still limping into 2026. January sales were down 29% year-over-year and 35% below the 10-year January average. The sales-to-active listings ratio came in at 9%—the lowest since September 2012—which is another way of saying only a small slice of available listings are actually selling. When the market is that thin, sellers usually end up competing on price, and reductions tend to spread.
The Current Challenge with Pre-Sale Construction
The real stress, though, is in new-construction condos—pre-sales and assignments. The assignment market has effectively seized up. In many cases there simply aren’t enough qualified buyers willing to take over contracts at today’s pricing and financing conditions, so liquidity has evaporated. That shows up in the MLS: across Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, assignment listings fell from 462 in April 2024 to just 90 by the end of January 2026.
The core issue is appraisal risk. A Big 5 bank contact says pre-sales nearing completion are commonly appraising 10%–30% below the original purchase price. That gap becomes a cash problem: if the lender won’t finance the original price, the buyer has to bridge it. That’s why “flipping” a pre-sale contract now often turns into a choice between losing the deposit, injecting fresh capital to close, or both.
If you want a high-profile example, look at the Butterfly building at 1033 Nelson (Westbank). It’s a beautiful project, but the resale market has been unforgiving: there hasn’t been a single MLS resale since closings began more than a year ago, even with sellers willing to take very large losses. One unit has been listed for 116 days at $1,688,000 after closing for $2,469,900 plus GST in December 2024. Another is listed at $1,698,000 after closing for $2,560,100 plus GST in July 2025.
Where are the Investors?
And even “breaking even” isn’t truly breaking even. Between GST, property transfer tax, and selling costs, there’s roughly a 10% hurdle before a seller is whole.
Zooming out, this is why the investor bid has faded. With interest rates no longer in the “free money” era, prices softer, rents softer, and landlord policy risk higher, the typical rental math isn’t compelling. That matters because investors have been a key source of capital for new supply. Developers can’t build and sell new product at yesterday’s prices, so the pipeline is shifting—one reason Vancouver suddenly has rental towers going up everywhere.
Two forces are driving that rental boom. First, many developers are pivoting because condo demand is weak. Second, CMHC’s Apartment Construction Loan Program has made purpose-built rentals far easier to finance, with very high leverage, long amortizations, and friendlier terms during the riskiest part of the project. More rental supply is good for renters—and with rents already down over the past year, additional supply should keep pressure on rates. But, it’s certainly not good for investors.
This also feeds back into resale. More rental supply can squeeze investor cash flow further, which keeps investors sidelined and can push more would-be landlords to sell, lifting listing inventory and adding price pressure. Meanwhile, the pre-sale market stays stuck because the demand is nil.