British Columbia’s housing market opened 2025 on a different footing than it did a year earlier, as home buying activity slowed while listings and available inventory climbed.
Sales
In Q1 2024, provincial home sales were on an upswing – 8.9% higher than in Q4 2023 and 0.6% above Q1 2023 levels. By contrast, the first quarter of 2025 saw transactions plunge 13.3% from Q4 2024 and sit 5.1% below year‐ago volume. The slide in sales coincided with a rise in mortgage arrears, from 0.15% in Q1 2024 to 0.19% in Q1 2025, and a climb in the unemployment rate from 5.5% to 6.0%.
Source: Edge Realty Analytics
Inventory
Supply metrics tell a complementary story. New listings in Q1 2025 increased 12.8% over the final quarter of 2024, compared to a 5.7% increase at the start of 2024, while year-over-year growth in fresh listings eased from 32.2% to 18.0%. Active inventory also rose by 12.4% q/q in Q1 2025 versus 6.3% a year earlier, and was up 27.0% y/y, narrowly eclipsing the 25.6% gain recorded in Q1 2024. As a result, months of supply rose from 5.6 to 7.8 over the same interval.
The sales‐to‐new‐listings ratio fell from 46.2% in Q1 2024 to 38.1% in Q1 2025, further showing that listings are outpacing buyer uptake.
Source: Edge Realty Analytics
Source: Edge Realty Analytics
Prices
Price trends, meanwhile, have softened. The provincial Home Price Index (HPI) dipped 1.7% in Q1 2024 before settling 4.4% above its year-earlier mark. In Q1 2025, prices declined 0.4% q/q and were 1.3% lower than in Q1 2024. Builders’ activity has also moderated: the number of dwellings under construction inched down 0.5% q/q in early 2025 and eked out just 0.8% growth y/y, compared with a 2.8% and 19.5% rise, respectively, in Q1 2024.
Source: Edge Realty Analytics
These trends show a shift in the market balance. Population growth also slowed dramatically, from 0.5% q/q and 3.3% y/y at the start of 2024 to zero growth quarter-over-quarter and just 1.7% y/y in early 2025, adding another layer of change beneath B.C.’s housing landscape.
