A tale of two condo markets continues to unfold in Toronto and Vancouver, with the former seeing steeper price declines.

Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist with the BC Real Estate Association, points to CREA data that shows “wild divergence” between Toronto and Vancouver’s apartment prices since a convergence in 2022, with Toronto’s prices down about 20 per cent, while Vancouver’s are just slightly off from the peak.

“There must be a much bigger amount of excess supply in Toronto than Vancouver,” he told Real Estate Magazine. “It’s much worse in Toronto.”

What’s happening in Vancouver 

Ogmundson noted that although Vancouver has seen a lot of construction over the past five years, many of those units are still in progress or intended as rentals, so supply hasn’t flooded the market all at once. 

He expects some downward pressure on Vancouver prices soon as inventory accumulates and demand softens, though likely not to the same extent as in Toronto.  

Toronto’s sudden downturn

“Vancouver is very much lagging Toronto,” said realtor Jarrod Armstrong with Right At Home Realty, noting that Toronto hit a peak in 2022 and the entire industry has been “flipped upside down” since then.

Armstrong said Toronto, where he is based, has been hit by a volley of changes in the last three years, like higher interest rates, a ban on foreign buyers, changes to Airbnb rules, and vacant home taxes, which have all sent investors fleeing.

“A lot has really hit the market all at once,” he said. “It’s really a perfect storm hitting the Toronto condo market.”

Armstrong said Toronto overbuilt small 350- to 450-square-feet condos mainly geared toward investors, but that are not so attractive to other buyers. That has resulted in a surplus of inventory and weak demand, which has sent prices falling. 

“(Small condos) have literally lost a quarter of their value,” he said. “They’re really just unsellable.”

Armstrong said that in a given month, there might be 3,000 condos for sale but only 300 sales. The city is now seeing a fall in preconstruction sales and projects abandoned left and right, according to Armstrong. 

To add insult to injury, tariffs from the U.S. have injected uncertainty into the economy that has “ruined” the spring condo market, he said. 

Vancouver: Smaller scale, similar issues

In Vancouver, realtor Ron Parpara with eXp Realty told REM that he thinks the main reason prices have fared better there than in Toronto is that it is a smaller city. That means there’s less space to build and less stock to outweigh demand. 

That said, he noted that the city is still feeling a market slowdown and there has been some dip in prices.

“We’re in a similar situation, just maybe in a little bit of a smaller scale with Toronto,” he said. “Sales are not keeping up with the supply.”

Parpara said Vancouver has the highest inventory in the last 11 years and there’s more coming online, and they just had the slowest May in the last 20 years. Vancouver has taken similar steps against investors as Toronto, including a vacant home tax and an Airbnb tax, according to Parpara. 

As a result, he said about 90 per cent of his transactions now are end users, not investors. 

Looking ahead

So what’s in store for the rest of 2025? Ogmundson predicts that in the short-term, sales will continue to be weak in Toronto and Vancouver due to economic uncertainty and a growing inventory, but there could still be a rebound eventually, given an ongoing housing shortage. 

Parpara thinks prices in Vancouver will continue to fall, but there will be a more balanced market in 2026/27 as interest rates come down, while Armstrong agrees that prices will continue to lower in Toronto and it won’t be until 2027 that we see a real change. That’s when there will begin to be constraints on inventory due to a slowdown in new construction.

“I don’t think we’ve hit bottom,” Armstrong said.

Eric Stober | Jun 27, 2025

source: realestatemagazine.ca

link: https://realestatemagazine.ca/one-country-two-markets-condo-fortunes-drift-further-apart-in-vancouver-and-toronto/

Over the course of the second quarter of 2025 — the months of April, May, and June — Vancouver City Council approved a combined total of 3,714 new homes across 18 high-rise towers, marking a step forward in the city’s efforts to address its housing affordability and supply crisis over the long term.

Altogether, the rezoning applications were approved in public hearings held throughout this period, including a mix of 3,089 market rental units and 591 below-market rental units offered at more affordable rates.

In addition, two projects with strata market ownership condominium homes were also approved, contributing another 234 condominium units.

All of these projects are transit-oriented developments within walking distance of existing or future SkyTrain stations, and the vast majority of the projects were located within the City’s Broadway Plan area. Many of these projects incorporated mixed uses, including varying degrees of retail/restaurant uses in the lower levels, and three childcare facilities with a combined capacity for up to 123 kids.

Two of these approved rezoning applications were multi-tower projects, including the highly contested redevelopment of the Safeway grocery store next to SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station, which will generate 1,044 secured purpose-built market rental homes.

The net gain in housing from all of these rezonings amounts to 3,698 new homes, accounting for the replacement of demolished homes.

In the case of the redevelopments of the Safeway at Commercial-Broadway Station and La Maison de la Francophonie, there is no loss of housing as these sites do not have any existing residential uses. If both of these projects are taken out of the equation, the net gain in residential uses drops to 2,529 units.

The developments span a range of heights and densities, with towers ranging from 17 to 44 storeys. Collectively, the 18 towers add up to a total of 464 floors, averaging about 26 storeys per tower. The median is 21 storeys.

While these rezonings have now been approved, each project must still undergo the development permit and building permit application processes. Approval is just one step — actual construction is another; whether these projects move forward remains uncertain, given escalating construction costs, high interest rates driving up financing expenses, and softened market demand. Even if a project proceeds to construction, its completion — and any meaningful impact on housing supply and affordability — remains years away.

Kenneth Chan| Jun 26 2025,

source: dailyhive.com

link: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-new-housing-tower-approvals-q2-2025

High inventory, stagnant prices, and tariff jitters stall momentum in once-hot markets.

British Columbia’s housing market continues to feel the effects of global economic turbulence, as both home sales and prices fell in May.

Last month’s numbers reflect a broader five-month slump, with high-priced regions taking the biggest hit, according to the BC Real Estate Association (BCREA).

“We have the highest level of inventory of both newly completed homes and existing homes in about 10 years,” BCREA chief economist Brendon Ogmundson.

The average home price in the province dropped by 4.2% year over year to $959,058, down from $1,001,341 in May 2024, according to the report. Meanwhile, total sales activity declined 13.5% over the same period.

“Sellers just aren’t really budging,” Ogmundson added. “If you look at condo prices in Vancouver versus Toronto, they’re down 20% from peak in Toronto, they are down like 5% from peak in Vancouver.”

Realtor Steve Saretsky echoed concerns about buyer reluctance, describing the current environment as a “sort of feedback loop.”

“Everyone is marked with uncertainty,” he said. “Worried with the tariff stuff, worried about the prospects of the labour market, are they going to be able to hold down a job.”

He added that buyer hesitation has allowed inventory to accumulate, which in turn is putting downward pressure on prices. But some sellers remain anchored to outdated pricing expectations.

“Everybody always feels like their house is worth more than it is,” Saretsky said. “People are always mentally anchored to the last price that sold in the building or the neighbourhood.”

Still, both Saretsky and Ogmundson acknowledged recent signs of a modest uptick in market activity, which Ogmundson attributed to a temporary easing of trade-related tension.

“There are some signs that perhaps the worst is behind us,” Ogmundson said. “The quieter it is on the tariff front, the more confidence buyers are going to have.”

He noted that before the onset of the US-Canada trade dispute, British Columbia had been bracing for a strong year. Ogmundson believes that if economic fears ease, some of that pent-up demand could start to make itself felt in the back half of 2025.

By Candyd Mendoza 17 Jun. 2025

source: cmpmag.com

link: https://www.mpamag.com/ca/mortgage-industry/market-updates/home-sellers-arent-budging-in-tariff-weary-bc-housing-market/539346?

Spring market brings abundance of opportunity for buyers

The slowdown in home sales registered on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Metro Vancouver* that began early this year continued in April, with sales down nearly 24 per cent year-over-year.

The Greater Vancouver REALTORS® (GVR) reports that residential sales in the region totalled 2,163 in April 2025, a 23.6 per cent decrease from the 2,831 sales recorded in April 2024. This was 28.2 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average (3,014).

“From a historical perspective, the slower sales we’re now seeing stand out as unusual, particularly against a backdrop of significantly improved borrowing conditions, which typically helps to boost sales. What’s also unusual is starting the year with Canada’s largest trading partner threatening to tilt our economy into recession via trade policy, while at the same time having Canadians head to the polls to elect a new federal government. These issues have been hard to ignore, and the April home sales figures suggest some buyers have continued to patiently wait out the storm.” said Andrew Lis, GVR director of economics and data analytics

The following data is a comparison between April 2025 and April 2024 numbers, and is current as of May of 2025.

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