May 2026 Market Update

MARKET OVERVIEW

Halfway through 2026 – Zoom that was fast! Time for reflection on how the market is behaving in 2026. Overall sales transactions were slightly behind where they were for the same month in 2025 but the drag in May was apartments/condominiums that experienced a challenging month overall. Townhomes were mostly flat and detached homes exceeded sales numbers compared to May 2025.

 

Continue on for the details on how each segment (detached, townhomes and apartments) are doing in Surrey, Abbotsford and Mission and some cool charts for my visual readers (like myself).

MARKET BREAKDOWN

While there is still price pressures due to slower sales, this has been moderated by a lower amount of inventory compared to last year. Inventory currently sits at 8497 for all of the Fraser Valley, which includes Abbotsford, Surrey and Mission, as well as North Delta & Langley. The amount of inventory is about 12% lower than the same month last year. This is displayed in the below chart.

 

Here are the numbers for May for the Fraser Valley, which includes Abbotsford, Mission and Surrey:

Here is a breakdown for Abbotsford, Mission and Surrey.

Let’s dig a little bit further into the numbers by looking at each of the property types: Detached, Townhomes and Apartments (condos).

Detached:

Detached property sales drove the overall increase for the region with Surrey in particular showing an increase in numbers. Surrey saw 160 detached property sales in May which was an +1.6% increase in sales compared to the same month last year. That strength shows the outsized impact on the numbers that Surrey has in the Fraser Valley as the region saw a 1.5% increase in detached sales but when you delve further, you can see weakness in some cities, in particular in Abbotsford where sales were 20.5% less than the same month last year for detached homes. This appears to be a particularly difficult month in Abbotsford but I’m not sure at this point that it points to a city-specific issue. The prior two months were either flat or a very small increase compared to the previous year. By comparison, Mission was only 2% lower compared to the same month last year for number of sales.

Benchmark prices for detached properties are down between 5 – 9% year over year. In Surrey, the HPI benchmark price of a detached home is $1.448M which is -9.4% compared to last year. The prices in Abbotsford and Mission are $1.175M and $941K respectively which represents a decline of -5.1% for Abbotsford and -6.5% for Mission. As of May 2026 prices in the Fraser Valley, which includes the three cities just mentioned, are hovering around the benchmark prices of late 2022.

Another important factor is the total amount of inventory – how many detached homes are currently actively listed. While the total number is higher than the 10 year average (currently 4235 detached properties listed in the Fraser Valley region), in Surrey, Abbotsford and Mission, the current amount of inventory is between 11% – 16% LOWER than the same time last year. That makes me think people are carefully considering if they want to list the property today or wait for better conditions with several deciding to take the latter option.

If you are someone who is considering selling your detached property in near future, my recommendation is to price the property CORRECTLY for the market right from the beginning. If that first step is wrong (e.g. priced too high), the momentum gets lost and the property winds up in a spiral of price reductions – or worse, doesn’t sell.

Townhouses:

Townhouse sales were mostly flat compared to the same month last year – 308 sales in the Fraser Valley which is 0% change compared to May 2025 (also 308). However, once again, when we delve deeper to the city level we can really see that Abbotsford struggled with sales last month. Abbotsford sold a total of 47 townhomes in May 2026 which is -23% compared to May 2025 (61 townhomes sold). By comparison, Surrey had a 8.1% increase of townhouse sales compared to May 2025 (173 vs 160) and Mission’s number need additional context. On the surface, Mission experienced a 233.3% increase compared to last year BUT Mission is a much smaller market. So the 10 townhome sales in May 2026 really outshone the 3 townhouse sales in May 2025 resulting in such a large percent increase.

Overall, total inventory for the number of townhomes listed for sale is lower by -12.2% compared to the same month last year. There are currently 1716 townhomes listed for sale across the region and reflects the same sentiment I mentioned in the detached section of potential sellers debating whether it is best to list now or wait.

Apartments:

While detached homes experienced a (relatively) stronger May 2026 and townhomes were flat, apartment sales were challenging across the region. Sales transactions fell by between 21% – 40% compared to the same month last year with the region experiencing a -23.2% decline in apartment sales compared to May 2025. In this category, Abbotsford experienced a -21.6% decline, Surrey experienced a -30.6% decline, and, Mission experienced a -40% decline. Again, context is needed for Mission as it only had 3 apartment sales in May 2026 compared to 5 sales the previous year. Mission is mainly a city of detached homes and a (growing) number of townhomes and a limited number of apartments – so apartment stats in particular will always be subject to large fluctuations.

So let’s skip Mission for now and focus on Abbotsford and Surrey.

Surrey:

3 bedroom apartments in Surrey were slow in May 2026 with only 5 units sold compared to 10 units sold in May 2025. 2 bedroom units also had a challenging month with 59 sales which is -35.2% lower than the same month in 2025. 1 bedroom units, while still -22.0% lower than the same month last year were the Surrey bright spot (if you can call it that) in the data with a decline not as severe as units with more bedrooms. With that said, there are 460 1 bedroom units currently available on the market which keeps 1 bedroom units in buyer’s market territory. 2 bedroom unit inventory has been growing in Surrey over the past few months and now sits at 652 active listings – which also keeps 2 bedroom units firmly in buyer’s market territory for the past few months. There are 72 active listings for 3 bedroom units which technically keeps 3 bedrooms in buyer’s market territory but I think this is hugely contextual given the smaller number of units and the general desirability of larger units with 3+ bedrooms – so make sure to talk to your realtor if considering a purchase in this category.

Abbotsford:

Abbotsford had a good month for 3 bedroom units with a grand total of 4 units sold – which is twice as many 3 bedroom units sold in May 2025. This keeps 3 bedroom units in balanced territory but again more nuance needed due to limited numbers.  So let’s look at 1 & 2 bedroom units. While sales were not strong for 2 bedroom units, they were stronger than for 1 bedroom units which had a -57.1% decline compared to the same month in 2025. I’d say 1 bedroom units are currently the weakest across most markets south of the Fraser river. Abbotsford is seeing a growing inventory for this category with +16% current active listings compared to May 2025, while 2 and 3 bedroom units experienced a decline in the number of active listings. Think of this as a classic case of supply vs demand – with increasing inventory for 1 bedrooms, this puts downward pressure on prices for that category.

HOW DO MORTGAGE RATES COMPARE TO A YEAR AGO?

I put this chart in last month’s article but it got a lot of responses so I’m including it again. The rate environment hasn’t changed nearly as much as people think. Take a look at the below chart:

Yes, there has been some movement, but overall, rates remain relatively stable.

Next Bank of Canada Rate decision is on June 10th with most economists expecting the Bank to stay the course and hold rates at their current levels.

HOMEOWNER GRANT REMINDER

A quick reminder that property tax payments are due by July 2 in most areas. Many cities allow you to pay online, by mail, or in person but check your  tax bill for specific payment instructions. Your taxes might be paid with your mortgage if you made those arrangements with your lender – again, check your tax bill for details.

Don’t forget to claim the Homeowners’ Grant (HOG) or the Senior Grant if eligible! The basic grant will save you $570 on your property tax bill.

1 – The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board consists of the communities of Abbotsford, Langley, Mission, North Delta, Surrey and White Rock