What's Selling

Entry-level inventory. The sub-$500K new construction market is tight — there isn't much of it, and when it's priced right (like BUTE at Clayton Crest at $369,990 with full inclusions), it moves. Buyers who've been priced out of Vancouver proper are looking seriously at Surrey, Langley, and New Westminster, and that demand is real.

Value-relative-to-quality plays. Pier West is the best example: BC's best-built waterfront tower, selling below what units went for at presale. Buyers who know what they're looking at are taking those units.

What's Sitting

Overpriced suburban product. There's a cohort of 2021-era presales completing right now that are pricing into a market that has corrected. Some of these buyers are in trouble. Resale of those new units is competing with fresh presale product that's priced more accurately for where we are today.

The Rate Environment Effect

Rates have come down from 2023 peaks but haven't hit the floor buyers were waiting for. The market hasn't exploded back to 2021 levels — it's a methodical, patient market right now. For buyers, that's actually good: less frenzy means more due diligence is possible, and developers are competing more aggressively on incentives.

The Journalist's Bottom Line

Vancouver real estate is not cheap and it won't become cheap. The structural shortage is real: Canada needs to build millions of homes. BC's population is growing. Vancouver is constrained by geography, regulation, and politics. The people who bought in 2016 wish they'd bought in 2010. The people who waited until 2022 were trying to time the market. The move is finding the right entry point at a fair price — which is what I spend my time doing.