More than half of the condos bought since 2021 and listed today are asking less than the owner paid. Here is what that number measures, where the gaps are deepest, and what it means for a mortgage.
Written by Hamidreza Etebarian on
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More than half of the condos bought since 2021 and listed for sale today are asking less than their owners paid. In September 2026 that share reached 55.4 percent across the Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley boards, up from 52.3 percent in August and 50.7 percent in July. A narrower check we ran on October 26, 2026 points the same way: of the 411 condos on those two boards whose last sale was within the past three years, 244 (59 percent) are listed below that sale price. In the Vancouver condo market, recent buyers are carrying the downturn while long-time owners are barely touched. This guide explains what the figure measures, where in BC the gaps run deepest, and what it means for owners and buyers.
The figure comes from our September 2026 market update. Zealty holds the full sale history of properties on the Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, and Chilliwack boards, so each active listing can be matched to the last time that property sold. The test compares today's asking price with the owner's purchase price.
Across all property types, 12,836 active listings on the two boards could be matched to a previous sale in September. Of those, 20.3 percent were asking less than that sale price, with an average gap of 9.6 percent. Purchase date decides almost everything:
Within the 2021-or-later group, condos lead at 55.4 percent. Townhouses are at 49.6 percent and detached houses at 36.0 percent. The condo figure covers both boards, from Vancouver and Burnaby out to Surrey, Langley, and Abbotsford, so it describes the wider Lower Mainland condo market and not the City of Vancouver on its own.
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In mortgage terms, an owner is underwater when the loan balance is larger than the home is worth. An asking price below the purchase price is a softer condition. It tells you the seller has accepted that the 2021 or 2022 price is gone. Whether the mortgage now exceeds the value depends on how much the owner put down and how much principal they have paid since.
Down payments are where recent condo buyers are thin. Under federal rules, the minimum down payment is 5 percent of the first $500,000 and 10 percent of the portion above $500,000, a structure in place since February 15, 2016 (Department of Finance Canada) and still current for homes under $1.5 million (Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, page updated October 15, 2025).
On a $700,000 condo, that minimum works out to $45,000, or about 6.4 percent of the price. A unit now asking 7 percent below what the owner paid has used up that whole down payment on paper, before a single selling cost. Four or five years of principal payments give some cushion back, but for a minimum-down buyer from 2021 or 2022 the margin is thin. This is general information, not financial advice.
To see how the picture looks today by board, we checked every active condo whose last sale in our data falls within the past three years. That is a narrower and more recent group than the September cohort, and the counts are small, so treat them as a direction rather than a precise rate.
The Fraser Valley share is the highest, and the deepest single gaps in that board sit in Surrey, where one Guildford one-bedroom is asking 31 percent below its last sale. In the Greater Vancouver board the widest gap is a three-bedroom in Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver, asking 29 percent below its last sale, followed by a Tsawwassen unit in Delta at 26 percent, a Sechelt unit at 24 percent and a unit in Richmond at 22 percent, with units in Burnaby and Port Moody at 19 to 20 percent below. Inside the City of Vancouver, the largest gaps are 18 percent, in Mount Pleasant and Coal Harbour, followed by Cambie at 16 percent.
For context, the active condo market these sellers compete in looked like this on October 26, 2026:
Owners who bought before 2016 have a decade of appreciation behind them, so a soft market only trims their gain. Buyers from 2021 and 2022 paid close to the top of the last cycle and have had little time to build equity, which is why the share asking below cost climbs so sharply with purchase year.
Sold prices tell the same story. In our analysis of homes selling below their last sold price, 77 percent of resales by owners who bought in 2022 closed below their purchase price over the three months to July 26, 2026. Asking prices show intent. Sold prices show what the market accepted.
Relisting does not hide this measure. A relist resets the list price and the days-on-market counter, but it cannot change what the owner paid in 2021.
An asking price below cost is not a realized loss until the unit sells, and some of these condos will sell above today's ask. Owners in this position usually weigh four choices:
Recent buyers who sell quickly should also check the BC home flipping tax. Under BC's Residential Property (Short-Term Holding) Profit Tax Act, in effect since January 1, 2025, a sale within 365 days is taxed at 20 percent of net taxable income, with the rate falling to zero at 730 days (Province of British Columbia, 2026). Because it is charged on net taxable income from the sale, it matters mainly for sellers who are making a gain. Most 2021 and 2022 buyers are well past 730 days in any case.
A seller asking below their own purchase price has already absorbed part of the decline, which can make the asking price a fairer starting point than it looks. It can also mean a seller with no room left to negotiate, because the sale has to cover the mortgage. Knowing what the owner paid tells you which of those you are dealing with.
Before you offer, look up the unit's full price history, compare it with recent sales in the same building, and review the strata's finances. Our guides to using sold comps and assessing a condo building cover both steps.
The Vancouver condo market has split by purchase year. Owners from before 2016 are almost all above water, while more than half of the condos bought since 2021 and listed today are asking less than the owner paid. That figure measures asking prices against purchase prices across the Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley boards, and it does not by itself mean those owners owe more than their homes are worth. For BC buyers, it means many recent sellers have already priced in a loss. Search condos on Zealty and check each unit's price history before you make an offer.
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Greater Vancouver closed September 2026 with 14,958 active listings at a $1,149,000 median and 56 days on market. Fraser Valley: 7,449 listings, $979,000. Inventory turned back up and days on market fell for the first time since March, but 2,631 of the 5,228 listings that came off the market in September are already back on it.
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More than a fifth of BC homes that resold in the last three months went for less than the owner paid. The pattern is not random, and it tracks almost perfectly with the year the seller bought.
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A BC seller on a $1.2M Metro Vancouver home pays $110K to $130K in total transaction costs. Here is every line, with current 2026 numbers and the three ways sellers can save.
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