Vancouver Buyers Have Plenty of Choice Today. That May Be the Bigger Opportunity.

One of the easiest mistakes in real estate is focusing entirely on prices.

Are they going up?

Are they going down?

Have we hit the bottom?

Those questions matter, but they're not the only things buyers should be watching.

Metro Vancouver had 16,476 active properties for sale in July, nearly 27% above the region's 10-year seasonal average. Sales, meanwhile, were almost 19% below the historical seasonal norm.

For buyers, that creates something incredibly valuable:

choice.

Choice means you can compare homes.

It can mean time to do an inspection.

It can mean putting financing conditions into an offer.

And on certain properties, it can mean negotiating.

But now look ahead.

CMHC's latest construction report shows that Vancouver housing starts fell 42% compared with July last year.

So we currently have a lot of resale inventory available while considerably fewer new homes are beginning construction.

That doesn't automatically mean Vancouver prices are about to rise.

But it does remind us that today's conditions don't stay frozen forever.

Now add Vancouver Island to the equation.

VIREB's latest numbers show Island sales have slowed too, but active inventory is only about 2% higher than last year.

That's why someone selling in Metro Vancouver to move to Parksville, Qualicum Beach or Nanaimo needs to analyze both markets together.

Waiting for your Vancouver property to appreciate might sound sensible.

But what happens if the Island home you want appreciates too?

And what happens if today's unusually good selection on the Mainland disappears?

There isn't one perfect statistic that answers that.

You have to look at:

your selling price
your buying price
your equity
your mortgage
your competition
your available choices
and the lifestyle you're trying to create.

That's also what I emphasize when I'm coaching real estate agents.

Being the market expert doesn't mean predicting every turn correctly.

It means understanding enough of the market to identify what actually matters to your client's decision — and explaining it clearly.

That's the difference between reporting statistics and giving advice.