As the Greater Vancouver area recorded its lowest annual home sales total this century in 2025, real estate experts are providing advice to buyers and sellers in the region as activity remains muted due to economic uncertainty.

Data from Greater Vancouver Realtors revealed that the region saw 23,800 home sales last year, nearly 25 per cent below the 10-year annual average.

Analysts have said for months that weakening demand has been exacerbated by economic uncertainty and the spectre of U.S. tariffs.

Experts say the large number of properties on the market and a slight dip in average asking price means it’s a perfect opportunity for first-time homeowners to enter the market.

On the other hand, they’re advising sellers to be more realistic and potentially drop their prices if they aim to complete a property sale this year.

“You would assume with such extreme market conditions — the slowest market conditions that we have seen in the last 20 years, plus record-high inventory levels — you would assume the prices would be crashing,” said Oleg Galyuk, a real estate agent with Royal Pacific Realty.

“But, at the moment, they haven’t really dropped all that drastically,” he added.

Buyers told to be patient

Brendon Ogmundson, the chief economist of the B.C. Real Estate Association, said the threat of U.S. tariffs hung over the real estate market throughout 2025.

The year had started with optimism, the economist said, but sales struggled even as interest rates became more stable and the number of listings went up.

“Realtors thrive on activity on on turnover in the market. And we just didn’t have buyers that had the confidence to to make transactions work,” the economist said.

Ogmundson said, however, that he’s hopeful the market picks up in 2026 due to pent-up demand from buyers and a possible resolution to the U.S. tariff war.

“Over the last year or so, we have seen a lot of investors exit the market, which means that first-time home buyers especially have very low competition,” Galyuk said.

“I would recommend for the first-time home buyers to really take your time. There is no pressure at the moment for the prices to go up and also no pressure to rush into purchasing.”

Sellers should be more realistic

Ogmundson said that it’s vital sellers be more realistic about pricing their properties if they want to complete transactions this year.

“We’re still in a situation right now where buyers are probably trying to lowball,” he said. “Sellers are still anchored to prices that might not be realistic.”

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Galyuk said that the current Vancouver-area property market wasn’t the one to test prices out in, and sellers shouldn’t get stuck in a loop of chasing the market down and reducing prices.

“The second part to add to that would be, also, to be flexible not only with your pricing, but also with your dates and with the sort of accommodations that you can provide for the buyers,” the real estate agent said.

There were more than 65,000 total properties listed in the Greater Vancouver region in 2025, an 8.2 per cent increase compared with 2024, according to Greater Vancouver Realtors.

Forecasts for 2026

Galyuk said he’s interested to see whether sellers continue to reduce their prices heading into 2026.

Ogmundson said that it represents the best opportunity for first-time buyers in years, forecasting strong demand in areas like Surrey and Langley with an incoming SkyTrain extension.

“Prices have come down a lot since since 2022. That, combined with stable interest rates, means affordability is, is really strong in markets that are really set to grow,” he said.

The benchmark price for a detached Greater Vancouver home in December was $1,879,800, marking a 5.3 per cent decrease from a year earlier.

The areas and municipalities covered by Greater Vancouver Realtors are Bowen Island, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, South Delta, Squamish, the Sunshine Coast, Vancouver, West Vancouver and Whistler.