BC Housing Market April 2026: Inventory Surges, Sales Accelerate

Fraser Valley: Strong Value, Accelerating Sales

The Fraser Valley closed April with 7,863 active listings at a $969,000 median and $549 per square foot across all property types. Sales hit 1,042 in April, up from 940 in March and the strongest month of the year. Months of inventory dropped from 8.0 to 7.7. The Fraser Valley value case has not changed: every metric trades at a meaningful discount to Greater Vancouver, and the same dollar buys substantially more square footage and yard.

Fraser Valley condos: 2,212 active listings. Median price $515,000. Median $656 per square foot. 49 days on market. Condo prices in the Fraser Valley are essentially flat from March ($519,000 to $515,000), but inventory continues to rise. For first-time buyers, this is one of the few markets in BC where the full Property Transfer Tax exemption is widely available. The median Fraser Valley condo qualifies for zero PTT under the first-time-buyer rules.

Fraser Valley townhouses: 1,854 active listings. Median price $824,888. Median $509 per square foot. 39 days on market. Fraser Valley townhouses continue to be one of the strongest value plays in the province. At $509 per square foot, you are paying roughly 37 percent less per square foot than an equivalent Greater Vancouver townhouse ($804/sqft) for similar layouts. Months of inventory fell to 6.1, the tightest of any major Fraser Valley segment. Browse Fraser Valley listings on Zealty.

City-by-City Snapshot for April 2026

Surrey: 4,059 active listings. Median $989,000. Median $567 per square foot. 49 days on market. Surrey added almost 300 net new listings in April while sales climbed to 478 from 421 in March. The price-per-square-foot has actually compressed slightly month-over-month from $529 to $516, reflecting condo-heavy inventory in Whalley and Surrey Centre pulling the median down. For townhouse buyers, Cloverdale and Fleetwood remain the cleanest price-per-square-foot value. Surrey market stats on Zealty.

Burnaby: 1,784 active listings. Median $890,000. Median $848 per square foot. 45 days on market. Burnaby holds steady as the mid-market choice for buyers who want SkyTrain access without paying City of Vancouver prices. Sales hit 257 in April, the strongest month of the year, while inventory grew to 1,784. The over-asking share fell from 8.0 percent in March to 7.0 percent in April, suggesting sellers are starting to meet buyers at the negotiating table rather than relying on bidding pressure. Burnaby market stats on Zealty.

North Vancouver: 1,036 active listings. Median $1,388,000. Median $904 per square foot. 32 days on market. North Vancouver continues to be the fastest-moving major region in this recap by a wide margin. Median days on market dropped from 35 in March to 32 in April, and the over-asking share sits at 10 percent. Sales were essentially flat at 180 versus 184 the previous month, but listings are clearing in roughly half the time of Greater Vancouver as a whole. The North Shore remains supply-constrained by geography. North Vancouver market stats on Zealty.

Richmond: 1,898 active listings. Median $999,900. Median $792 per square foot. 52 days on market. Richmond once again carries the longest days on market of any region in this recap. April brought 244 sales (up from 207 in March), and months of inventory dropped from 8.9 to 7.9. The over-asking share jumped to 10.2 percent in April from 7.2 percent in March, the largest month-over-month jump of any region tracked here. Buyers still have selection and time, but pockets of competition are appearing in well-priced detached. Richmond market stats on Zealty.

April Trends Worth Tracking

Three trends defined the April market and are worth carrying into May:

Detached over-asking is rising. 12.5 percent of Greater Vancouver detached homes sold above asking in April, the highest share of 2026. This is concentrated in well-priced, well-located stock. The headline detached median is roughly flat ($1,718,400 in March, $1,700,000 in April), but the dispersion is widening. Well-priced detached is firming, mispriced detached is sitting.

Months of inventory is compressing. Greater Vancouver moved from 9.1 months of inventory in March to 8.8 in detached, and Fraser Valley dropped from 8.0 to 7.7 across all types. The market is still buyer-leaning above six months, but the trajectory has reversed. The window of maximum buyer leverage in this cycle is starting to narrow.

Sales are accelerating faster than inventory. Greater Vancouver sales rose from 2,020 to 2,112 (about 4.5 percent), while inventory grew from 14,117 to 15,517 (about 9.9 percent). The new-listings pace is starting to slow relative to absorption. If May follows the typical seasonal pattern, sales-to-new-listings ratios are likely to keep climbing.

What This Means Heading Into May

April was the inflection point of the spring market. Inventory is high, but it is being absorbed faster, and the segments that sell quickly (well-priced detached, North Vancouver across types, Greater Vancouver townhouses) are visibly tightening. Buyers still have leverage in the broad market, but the easiest deals on the best properties are getting harder to find.

For active buyers, three Zealty filters are particularly useful right now. Sorting by days on market surfaces listings that have been sitting 30 days or longer; those sellers are still the most likely to negotiate. Sorting by price-change percentage finds homes where sellers have already reduced once, which usually signals room for further negotiation. The price-vs-previous-sold filter highlights properties listed below their last sale price, often a sign of a motivated seller or genuine repricing.

First-time buyers should focus on the condo segments in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, where prices remain inside or near the BC Property Transfer Tax exemption window. For a complete walkthrough of PTT, the FHSA, and the Home Buyers' Plan, see our complete guide to first-time buyer programs in BC for 2026.

Start Your May Search on Zealty

Every number in this post comes from live Zealty MLS data, refreshed throughout the day. April closed with the highest spring inventory in years, but absorption picked up and pockets of competition are emerging. May is likely to bring more of both. If you want to be alerted the moment a property fitting your criteria comes on, set up a saved search by neighbourhood, price range, and property type.

Search active BC listings with live MLS data on Zealty and filter by region, property type, and price to find the homes that match your plan for May.