BC Housing Market May 2026: Inventory Builds, Prices Soften Underneath

Fraser Valley: Inventory Highest in Years, Value Case Intact

The Fraser Valley closed May with 8,372 active listings at a $979,000 median and $549 per square foot across all property types. That is 14 percent more inventory than at the end of March and the deepest the board has been all year. Median days on market lengthened to 50 from 46 in April, the longest of any major BC region tracked here. The Fraser Valley value gap to Greater Vancouver actually widened slightly in May: at $549 per square foot board-wide, Fraser Valley homes trade at roughly a 36 percent discount to Greater Vancouver on a per-square-foot basis.

Fraser Valley condos: 2,320 active listings. Median price $509,900. Median $647 per square foot. 51 days on market. Fraser Valley condos remain one of the only segments in BC where a typical buyer pays zero Property Transfer Tax under the first-time-buyer exemption. The median has held essentially flat for three months ($519,000 in March, $515,000 in April, $509,900 in May) while inventory has climbed steadily. Buyers in this segment have time and selection on their side.

Fraser Valley townhouses: 1,961 active listings. Median price $824,900. Median $510 per square foot. 43 days on market. The Fraser Valley townhouse value case remains the strongest in the province. At $510 per square foot, buyers pay roughly 36 percent less per square foot than for a comparable Greater Vancouver townhouse ($794/sqft). The median price has been remarkably stable for three months, and inventory grew only 5.8 percent in May, the slowest build of any major segment. This is the tightest part of the Fraser Valley market. Browse Fraser Valley listings on Zealty.

City-by-City Snapshot for May 2026

Surrey: 4,378 active listings. Median $999,000. Median $563 per square foot. 50 days on market. Surrey added roughly 320 net new listings in May, the largest absolute monthly build of any city tracked here. The median price ticked up to $999,000 from $989,000, but days on market lengthened by one day and price-per-square-foot drifted slightly lower. Inventory growth is concentrated in condo product around Surrey Centre and Whalley, which continues to pull the board median down relative to townhouse-heavy areas like Cloverdale and Fleetwood. Surrey market stats on Zealty.

Burnaby: 1,978 active listings. Median $899,000. Median $840 per square foot. 49 days on market. Burnaby posted the biggest percentage inventory jump of any major city in May, growing 10.9 percent from April's 1,784 listings. Days on market lengthened from 45 to 49 and the median price held steady at $899,000. The mid-market story remains intact: SkyTrain access at a meaningful discount to City of Vancouver, but the negotiating dynamic has shifted firmly back toward buyers. Burnaby market stats on Zealty.

North Vancouver: 1,072 active listings. Median $1,349,945. Median $898 per square foot. 31 days on market. North Vancouver remains the fastest-moving major region by a wide margin. Median days on market actually dropped a day in May (from 32 to 31), even as inventory grew slightly to 1,072. The North Shore continues to be supply-constrained by geography and price-anchored by consistent lifestyle demand. If you are watching this market, properties are not sitting; they are clearing in roughly two-thirds the time of Greater Vancouver as a whole. North Vancouver market stats on Zealty.

Richmond: 2,027 active listings. Median $999,900. Median $789 per square foot. 51 days on market. Richmond crossed 2,000 active listings for the first time this year, with inventory growing 6.8 percent in May. Days on market lengthened from 52 to 51, essentially flat, and the median price held at $999,900. The April surge in over-asking sales has not carried into May at the same pace, and Richmond is back to being one of the slowest-clearing major markets in the region. Buyers have selection and time, particularly in detached. Richmond market stats on Zealty.

May Trends Worth Tracking

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

Headline medians held, but condos and detached softened underneath. Greater Vancouver's all-property median sat essentially unchanged at $1,188,000, but condos dropped from $718,800 to $700,000 (down 2.6 percent) and detached dropped from $2,148,000 to $2,098,000 (down 2.3 percent). The board-wide stability is masking real price movement in the two largest segments. Buyers shopping condos or detached in May had measurably more negotiating room than buyers in April.

Inventory is now at multi-year May highs. Greater Vancouver inventory grew from 14,117 at the end of February to 16,197 at the end of May, a 14.7 percent build over three months. Fraser Valley grew from roughly 6,800 to 8,372 over the same period, up 23 percent. New listings are continuing to arrive faster than absorption, which is the opposite of what April briefly suggested. The traditional spring rush did not materialize at the pace sellers had hoped for.

Days on market ticked up across most segments. Greater Vancouver condos moved from 42 to 45 days, townhouses from 38 to 41, and Burnaby from 45 to 49. The exception is North Vancouver, which actually tightened one day to 31. The April compression in days on market did not stick. For buyers, this is the clearest signal that the April firming was a head-fake and that leverage has widened back out.

What This Means Heading Into June

May reversed the April story. April looked like the spring inflection point, with sales accelerating and over-asking sales jumping in detached. May data shows that momentum did not carry. Inventory continues to build, days on market lengthened in most segments, and headline-stable prices are hiding real softness in condos and detached. For buyers, the message is straightforward: the leverage window did not close in April, and right now it is wider than it has been at any point in 2026.

For active buyers, three Zealty filters are particularly useful in this market. Sorting by days on market surfaces listings sitting 30 days or longer; those sellers are most likely to negotiate. Sorting by price-change percentage finds homes where sellers have already cut once, which usually signals additional room. The price-vs-previous-sold filter highlights properties listed below their last sale price, often a sign of motivated sellers or genuine repricing. With 16,197 listings active across Greater Vancouver alone, these filters are how you separate motivated sellers from anchored ones.

First-time buyers should focus on the condo segments in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, where prices have softened and a much larger share of inventory now falls inside or near the BC Property Transfer Tax exemption window. For a full 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 June Search on Zealty

Every number in this post comes from live Zealty MLS data, refreshed throughout the day. May closed with the deepest spring inventory the BC market has seen in years and prices softening in the two largest segments. June 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 and Zealty will email you the matches as they list.

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 June.