More Houses Sold, Fewer Condos Sold: September 2026 North Shore + Vancouver Real Estate Market Update

September’s Metro Vancouver housing numbers look straightforward at first: fewer homes sold than a year ago and prices moved lower.

Look underneath that headline, though, and the market is considerably more divided. Apartment sales fell sharply, while detached sales finished slightly above last September. At the same time, detached prices remained well below where they were a year ago.

That divergence is the part I think matters. More people are willing to buy houses, but that has not translated into renewed pricing power for sellers.

Metro Vancouver: overall sales fell, but not every property type did

Metro Vancouver recorded 1,717 residential sales in September, down 8.4% from September 2025 and 25% below the 10-year seasonal average.

Apartment sales were the main source of weakness, falling 18.6% year over year. Detached activity, by contrast, finished slightly above last September.

The composite benchmark price is now $1,075,900, down 5.5% from a year ago. The detached benchmark is $1,784,700, down 7.3%.

There were 16,394 homes listed for sale at the end of September. That is 24.3% above the 10-year seasonal average, even though inventory is actually lower than it was a year ago.

The region-wide sales-to-active listings ratio was 10.9%. GVR’s historical analysis suggests that sustained ratios below 12% tend to put downward pressure on prices.

Put together, the picture is fairly nuanced: buyers still have meaningful choice, prices remain under pressure, but detached demand is proving more resilient than the overall sales number suggests.

North Vancouver: more detached sales, far fewer apartment sales

North Vancouver shows the property-type split particularly clearly.

There were 59 detached sales in September, compared with 49 in September 2025. Apartment sales moved in the opposite direction, falling from 80 to 42.

That improvement in detached activity has not pushed prices higher. North Vancouver’s detached benchmark is $2,042,000, down 6.2% year over year. The apartment benchmark is $769,000, down 3.2%.

The composite benchmark across North Vancouver is $1,290,400, down 3.9% from last September.

The salient point is not that North Vancouver houses have suddenly become a hot market. It is that more detached buyers are completing purchases while still maintaining pricing discipline.

West Vancouver: the bigger story is the price reset

West Vancouver is a different market story.

Its composite benchmark is now $2,244,700, down 7.4% from September 2025 and 15.0% over three years.

The detached benchmark sits at $2,822,900, down 9.9% year over year. The apartment benchmark is $1,097,300, down 5.7%.

That is a material recalibration. A buyer comparing today’s West Vancouver market with conditions a few years ago is looking at a very different pricing environment.

GVR combines West Vancouver and Howe Sound in its monthly transaction-count tables, so I do not treat those combined sales figures as West Vancouver-only data. The West Vancouver price indexes above are specific to West Vancouver.

Vancouver East and West are diverging too

Vancouver East looks more like North Vancouver on transaction activity.

Detached sales increased from 56 last September to 65 this September, while apartment sales fell from 101 to 61. Its composite benchmark is $1,120,200, down 5.0% year over year.

Vancouver West is different. Detached sales declined from 56 to 47, and apartment sales eased from 225 to 214. Its composite benchmark is $1,206,600, down 5.3% from last year.

The asymmetry is important. “Vancouver real estate is down” is technically true at the broadest level, but it is becoming less useful as a description of what an individual buyer or seller is actually facing.

What this means if you are buying

A stronger detached listing can attract attention, particularly in North Vancouver and Vancouver East, but the broader market still gives buyers options.

Inventory remains well above its long-term seasonal norm, benchmark prices are lower than last year, and the sales-to-active ratio remains in territory historically associated with downward price pressure.

That makes the granular details more important: listing history, competing inventory, time on market, previous price changes and how the individual property compares with what else a buyer can purchase today.

What this means if you are selling

September is evidence that buyers are still willing to transact. It is not evidence that they will overlook price.

More detached sales alongside lower detached benchmark prices is a useful illustration. A market can become more active without becoming more expensive.

For sellers, the pertinent comparison is increasingly the homes competing for the same buyer today rather than a sale from several months ago.

Your neighbourhood may be doing something different

These figures are broad market indicators. Individual neighbourhoods, buildings and property types can move very differently from their municipal averages.

If you want to know what is happening around your own property, send me your address or neighbourhood. I can look at the recent sales, current competition and listing history that are actually relevant to you.

Check your home’s estimated value

Source: Greater Vancouver REALTORS® September 2026 Residential Market Report and MLS® Home Price Index.

Methodology note: GVR’s September news release and detailed sales table differ by one detached transaction in the regional total. Because the direction is unchanged but the published totals are inconsistent, I describe regional detached sales as slightly higher year over year rather than publishing a percentage change from that disputed total. Local transaction counts and HPI figures above are taken directly from the corresponding GVR area tables.