September’s Vancouver Numbers Split the Market in Two. Here Is What It Means for Presale Buyers

Greater Vancouver Realtors released its September numbers last week, and the headline is easy to summarize: sales were down 8.4% from a year ago, and prices slipped again. But that headline hides the most important thing in the report. Metro Vancouver is now two different markets.

Houses and townhouses are holding steady. Condos are not. If you are thinking about buying a presale, almost all of which are condos, that split is the part you need to understand.

The September numbers at a glance

According to the GVR September 2026 stats package, there were 1,717 residential sales across Metro Vancouver last month, down from 1,875 in September 2025. That is 25% below the 10-year average for September.

The MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price is now $1,075,900. That is down 5.5% from a year ago and 0.6% from August. By property type:

• Detached: $1,784,700, down 7.3% year over year
• Townhouse: $1,016,700, down 4.7% year over year
• Apartment: $682,500, down 6.2% year over year

New listings fell 10.3% to 5,852, and total active listings fell 4% to 16,394. That is still 24.3% above the 10-year average, which means buyers have plenty to choose from.

The real story: condo sales fell almost 19%

Here is where it gets interesting. Detached sales actually rose 4.2% from last September, to 575. Townhouse and other attached sales were flat, at 358. The entire decline came from apartments, where sales fell 18.6%, from 954 to 777.

GVR chief economist Andrew Lis put it plainly. He said the weakness “is contained to the sizeable apartment segment,” and that the data is consistent with end-users driving the market while “investor-driven demand awaits more favourable market conditions.”

That matches what we have been seeing on the ground. Apartments usually make up about half of all sales in this region. In September they were about 45%. Year to date, apartment sales are down 12% from the same period in 2025, while detached sales are up about 1%. The people buying right now are mostly people who plan to live in what they buy. The investors who used to buy condos to rent out have largely stepped back, for reasons we covered in our look at Metro Vancouver’s unsold condo inventory.

Condo prices are back to where they were in 2021

The number that stood out most to me is not in the press release. It is in the tables. The apartment benchmark price across Greater Vancouver is down 11.1% over three years, and up just 0.3% over five years. In other words, a typical resale condo costs roughly what it did in the fall of 2021.

Some areas have corrected more than others. Over the past year, apartment benchmarks fell 9.1% in Richmond, 9.0% in Port Coquitlam, 8.3% in Burnaby South, 7.5% in New Westminster and 7.3% in Coquitlam. Vancouver East and Vancouver West were both down 5.2%. North Vancouver held up best among the larger markets, down 3.2%.

What the sales-to-listings ratio is telling us

GVR tracks one more number worth watching: the sales-to-active-listings ratio. Historically, prices face downward pressure when that ratio stays below 12%, and upward pressure when it stays above 20%.

In September it was 10.9% overall. Apartments were at 11.4% and detached homes at 9.7%. Townhouses were the only segment above the line, at 12.2%. Put another way, at September’s pace it would take about nine and a half months to sell everything currently listed. That is a buyer’s market by any standard.

Lis also pointed out something that cuts the other way. Inventory is now trending lower, and that is keeping prices from falling quickly. The declines are small each month, about 3% across all segments since January. But they keep adding up.

What this means for presale buyers

First, use resale as your benchmark. A presale condo is only good value if it makes sense next to what you could buy today. With the typical resale apartment at $682,500 and back at 2021 levels, any presale should be priced with a clear reason for its premium: a better location, a newer building, a stronger developer, or real incentives. If the gap is too wide, negotiate or walk away.

Second, think about when you will close, not just when you sign. A presale you buy today will likely complete in 2028 to 2030. Very few new projects are launching, which means far fewer new condos will be completing in those years. That is a very different supply picture from today’s, where finished units are competing for a thin pool of buyers.

Third, pay attention to townhouses. They are the one segment where buyers and sellers are close to balanced, and townhouse sales held level with last year even as condo sales fell. If you are a family planning to live in your home, presale townhouses deserve a close look.

Finally, keep an eye on rates. Fixed mortgage rates have been climbing, and that affects what you will qualify for at completion, not just today. We wrote about that risk in why a rate hold does not help your 2028 presale completion.

The bottom line

September confirmed what the market has been saying all year. Detached and townhouse buyers are mostly people buying homes to live in, and that part of the market is steady. The condo market is still working through the absence of investors, and prices there have quietly given back five years of gains.

For the right buyer, that is not a warning sign. It is the best negotiating position we have seen in years. If you want help finding the presales that are priced right against today’s resale market, register for VIP presale access at vancouverdwelling.ca. I compare every launch against current resale benchmarks before I bring it to clients.