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Monthly Market Report · July 2026

July 2026 · Greater Vancouver & Fraser Valley

July 2026: the numbers, and the one line that actually moved.

Issue 03 · August 2026 · 8 min read

Hi there,

Last month I wrote that June's sales jump was the first broad one in years, and that July would tell us whether it meant anything. It didn't. Sales fell 9.8% in Greater Vancouver, giving back almost exactly what June had gained, and condos led the drop at nearly 18%. Prices eased again on both sides of the river, quietly, the way they have all year. One line did move in a direction it hasn't in two years, and it had nothing to do with buyers. More on that below.

The number this month

2,061

Greater Vancouver home sales in July, down 9.8% from a year ago — erasing a June gain of almost exactly the same size.

The clearest change in July was not who was buying. It was who stopped listing.

Where prices sit versus the 2022 peak

Fraser Valley

$877,600 · −26%

Greater Vancouver

$1,088,800 · −13%

A full bar would be the spring-2022 peak. Both boards remain well short of it, the Fraser Valley furthest of all, and prices eased again in July.

July 2026 by the numbers

Fraser Valley sales

1,089

▼ 9% vs a year ago

Greater Vancouver benchmark

$1,088,800

▼ 6.2% year-over-year

Fraser Valley benchmark

$877,600

▼ 7% year-over-year

Greater Vancouver sales-to-active

13%

just above the 12% line

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The numbers

Greater Vancouver

Sales of 2,061 were down 9.8% from July 2025 and 18.6% below the 10-year seasonal average. The weakness was concentrated rather than broad: apartment sales fell 17.8% year-over-year, while detached slipped 3.2% and attached homes were essentially flat at down 1.1%. Chief economist Andrew Lis put it plainly: "July sales were down nearly ten per cent, led by an 18 per cent drop in apartment sales, confirming to market watchers that the June momentum was not sustained." He described the wider pattern as "one step forward, one step back," and said June and July "are a prime example."

Fraser Valley

The Fraser Valley recorded 1,089 sales, down 5% from June and 9% below last July. At an 11% sales-to-active ratio the board stayed in buyer's-market territory, where it has been all year. Board chair Ishaq Ismail described the mood directly: "Buyer urgency has been notably absent from the Fraser Valley market for some time now. With inventory remaining high and competition subdued, buyers know they don't have to rush." Interim chief executive Anthony Boone framed the same conditions from the other side, calling the region "one of the Lower Mainland's brightest spots for improving affordability."

The question June raised, answered

Last month's snapshot ended by noting that June had been the first broad sales increase in years, and that July and August would show whether it was a genuine turn or one strong month against an easy comparison. July answered it: the gain reversed almost exactly, and the breadth that made June notable did not repeat. That is worth recording plainly rather than reframing. One month of rising sales in a market that has been easing for two years is not yet a trend, and the honest reading in June was that it might not be.

More detail, including inventory, days on market, and the regional breakdown, is in the full report.

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What this means

For buyers

July restored the conditions June briefly interrupted. Inventory is still 27% to 32% above the 10-year seasonal norm on the two boards, competition is subdued, and benchmarks are 6% to 7% lower than a year ago. The constraint remains financing rather than price: the mortgage stress test still qualifies you at your contract rate plus two percentage points, or 5.25%, whichever is higher, and that qualifying rate does not fall just because benchmarks have. The one change worth noticing is on the supply side. Fewer new listings arrived in July than in any recent month, and if that continues while sales hold steady, the choice available today is the widest part of this cycle rather than a permanent feature of it.

For sellers

The month took back what June offered. Buyers were fewer, apartments especially so, and the average Fraser Valley home took about a week longer to sell than in June — roughly six weeks for a correctly priced property. The offsetting development is that fewer sellers are competing with you: new listings fell 11.5% in Greater Vancouver and 18% in the Fraser Valley. Pricing to current benchmarks rather than to last year's, presenting the home well, and planning for about six weeks on market is what the July data supports. Apartment owners should plan for the longest timeline of the three property types.

· · ·

Featured guide

Lower Mainland Housing Cycles, 1980–Present

Open the guide →

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What I'm watching

A few things on my mind right now.

An evening with Benjamin Neff

I was at an event last night for Benjamin Neff, who is running for Township council in the October 17 election. He is running as an independent, in a race otherwise organized around two slates, Langley Strong and Progress For Langley.

What he spent most of his time on was how a council actually works together. He made the same point to the Langley Advance Times in July, that local government works best "when councillors can build agreement across a mosaic of views, not just within one camp." Public affairs consultant by trade, first run at council, and a new dad, which he says is a good part of why he's thinking about the next twenty years here.

Money is the backdrop to this whole election. The Township's audited statements show net debt at $131.1 million, up from $8.5 million the year before. Neff's approach to it is a measured one, and I would rather he explain it than have me summarize it, so if it matters to you, his site is here and he is easy to reach.

The line that moved

For two years the story here has been inventory. More of it every month, and prices drifting down under the weight. July was the second month running that went the other way. New listings in Greater Vancouver fell 11.5% to 4,991, landing almost exactly on the ten-year average, with condo listings down close to 17%. In the Fraser Valley they dropped 18% to 2,836. Active inventory came down with them on both boards.

That's sellers stepping back, not buyers stepping up. Andrew Lis at Greater Vancouver put it this way: "We've been pointing to the slowdown in sellers coming to market for several months, and it's beginning to translate into a gradual decline in the overall inventory level." He added that the shift "remains in early days."

Twice is a pattern, not a trend. But inventory has been the whole story of this cycle, so it moving down matters more than one month of sales either way. If you're out looking, the choice you have today may be the widest part of this rather than a permanent feature of it. Worth knowing, not a reason to rush.

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A few I’m currently representing