August 2026 Market Update

Today being the first day of school for most students, marks the start of the Fall market. Typically the Fall market bring more sellers to the market and an increase in sales activity as buyers take advantage of increased inventory. So what can we expect this Fall? It is still VERY early days but if the trends seen over the first-half of the year continues, we will see a lower than typical inventory level as sellers hold off and continued slightly sluggish sales as buyers take their time.

Reach out at any time for a real time update if you are considering transacting this fall.

SUMMARY

The charts below show the highlights of the Fraser Valley Market (Abbotsford, Langley, Mission, North Delta, Surrey and White Rock) for visual readers (like me). I love also love charts and stats! Read on for additional details and context on how each segment performed in my home markets of Surrey, Abbotsford and Mission.

INSIDE THIS ARTICLE:

• Market overview – Abbotsford, Surrey, Mission
• Market breakdown – Detached, Townhomes, Apartments – how’d they do?
• 2027 BC Residential Rent Increase
• Market rents have fallen
• The Foreign Buyer Ban – Extend, Modify or Expire?

MARKET OVERVIEW

In August, sales in the Fraser Valley (which includes Surrey, Abbotsford and Mission) were slightly up (1.1%) compared to August 2025. This was primarily driven by a 1.9% increase in detached sales when compared to August 2025 – a nice little bump for detached homes which have been a slow spot over the past several months. Apartment sales continue a slow year, being -7.5% below the number of sales in August 2025, Townhomes were only down by -2.5%.

You can see the Fraser Valley trend in the below chart comparing 2025 to 2026 sales transactions.

 

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 7997 for all of the Fraser Valley, which includes Abbotsford, Surrey and Mission, as well as North Delta & Langley. This is a significant 17% below the inventory level of August 2025 although still higher than the 10 year trend. You can see this illustrated in the below chart comparing inventory level in 2025 vs 2026. You can really see the hesitancy of sellers to bring a listing to the market in the below chart.

 

Shall we take a deeper look at the numbers fort each of the property types: Detached, Townhomes and Apartments (condos).

Detached:

Detached property sales drove the overall increase for the region with Abbotsford and Surrey showing a very respectable +10.5% and +8.3% increase sales compared to August 2025. Mission as always is a more nuanced market considering its comparative smaller size, and experienced a -11.9% decrease in number of sales in the month. Surrey had 157 detached property sales in August 2026, Abbotsford 63 and Mission 37. As an example of the nuance I mentioned earlier regarding Mission, that -11.9% decrease while it appears impressive, only represents 5 sales transactions (37 vs 42 in August 2025). In each of these markets I am not seeing a specific issue to point to – they all have fluctuated over the past several months with either small increases, decreases or relatively flat. This is more indicative of a market in transition. The market transition is never a straight line – two steps forward, one step back is a good analogy. While I’m using this analogy for detached homes, the same could be said for the market as a whole.

 

Benchmark prices for detached homes are down -8.4% year over year in the Fraser Valley. In Surrey, the HPI benchmark price of a detached home is $1.407M which is -8.3% compared to last year. The prices in Abbotsford and Mission are $1.117M and $892K respectively which represents a decline of -7.9% for Abbotsford and -11.8% for Mission. As of May 2026 benchmark HPI prices in the Fraser Valley, which includes the three cities just mentioned, are hovering around the benchmark prices of spring 2021.

 

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 4072 detached properties listed in the Fraser Valley region), in Surrey, Abbotsford, the current amount of inventory remains 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. This is perfectly illustrated in Mission where the inventory of detached properties is a whopping -25.7% BELOW August 2025 levels. So while the slower sales in Mission applies downward price pressure, the lower amount of inventory tends to balance the scale in the opposite direction – this is supply and demand basics.

 

If you are someone who is considering selling your property in the near future, my recommendation remains to price the property CORRECTLY for the market right from the beginning. Sellers that test an aspirational price are experiencing the tedious world of price reductions – or worse, doesn’t sell.

 

Townhouses:

Townhouse sales were only slightly lower in the Fraser Valley compared to the same month last year – 244 sales in the Fraser Valley which is -2.0% change compared to August 2025 (249). However, once again, when we delve deeper to the city level numbers we can see that Abbotsford, Surrey and Mission all experienced increases, with Mission posting an impressive +12.5% in the number of townhome sales. AGAIN – Mission is a smaller market so that 12.5% increase represents one additional townhouse sale. I will say this again – talk to a Realtor when looking at headline numbers – there is ALWAYS more going on than what is displayed on the surface.

 

Abbotsford sold a total of 43 townhomes in August 2026 which is +2.4% compared to August 2025 (42 townhomes sold). Surrey had a +0.8% increase of townhouse sales compared to August 2025 (124 vs 123).

 

Overall, total inventory for the number of townhomes listed for sale is lower by -18.4% compared to the same month last year. There are currently 1572 townhomes listed for sale across the region. In real numbers, this is  49 units less than 6 months ago. Listing hesitation anyone?

 

Apartments:

 

While detached homes experienced a (relatively) stronger August 2026 and townhomes were slightly down, apartment sales were challenging across the region. Sales transactions fell by -7.5% in the region compared to August 2025. Abbotsford experienced a -26.5% decline (36 vs 49), Surrey a -13.7% decline (107 vs 124), and, Mission a -50% decline. Again, context is needed for Mission as it only had 3 apartment sales in August 2026 so a -50% reduction represents 3 transactions. 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 flat in August 2026 with 7 units sold. 2 bedroom units had a challenging month with 61 sales which is still -25.6% lower than the same month in 2025. If you’ve been following my reports you’ll know this is a continuation we’ve seen since the start of the year. 1 bedroom units meanwhile had a bright spot selling +11.4% more units than August 2025 (39 vs 35). The last month we saw an increase in this category was May 2026 so this is a good sign for a segment that has struggled to break through this year.  With that said, there are 429 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 609 active listings – which also keeps 2 bedroom units firmly in buyer’s market territory for the past few months. There are 75 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 or sale in this category.

 

Abbotsford:

Abbotsford had two sales of 3 bedroom units sold compared to 4 units in August 2025. Looking at 1 & 2 bedroom units, sales were not strong for 2 bedroom units with 25 units sold compared to 39 last August. 1 bedroom units had 9 units sold in August 2026 compared to 7 the previous year. 1 bedroom units are currently the weakest across most markets south of the Fraser river. Abbotsford is seeing a shrinking inventory for this category with -26% new listings than the previous year and -22% current active listings compared to August 2025.

 

Hope this information helps if you are looking at transacting in this area. Text me with any questions or wanting to know how the current market may affect your situation.

 

BC RESIDENTIAL RENT INCREASE FOR 2027

Each year the Government of BC sets the amount that landlords can increase rents in the Province. There are rules around when and how this increase can be implemented. For 2027, the potential Rent increase is set at 2.2% which is down slightly from 2.3% in 2026. A quick reminder – rent can only be increased once per year and only with 3 months notice.

 

Market rents have fallen over the past two years. You can see the fluctuations in the below chart from Rentals.ca. If you rented within the past 3 to 5 years, it may be worth have a conversation. If you want to explore your situation fully, text me at 604-788-6948.

 

FOREIGN BUYER BAN

The foreign buyer ban was implemented by the previous Trudeau government in 2023 and extended to expire in January 2027. It prevents “foreign” buyers from transacting within the Canadian residential market with several narrow exceptions. There has been discussion and speculation on how the expiry of the ban might impact the market. Will it spark competition between domestic buyers and foreign buyers going after the same properties? Will the market see an influx of new buyers? Will the ban expire or will they modify it – perhaps to resemble the foreign buyer ban in Australia? (In Australia, foreign buyers are restricted to only purchase presale construction properties and are not able to purchase resale (used) homes).

 

Opinion: Even if the foreign buyer ban were removed, the effect on housing demand may be muted. Foreign buyers only represented around five per cent of the market before the ban, and many investor class buyers are having a challenge making the case for new-build properties relative to resale homes. On top of that, foreign purchasers would still be subject to substantial taxes, including an additional 20% property transfer tax in our province (BC), limiting the appeal of entering the market.

 

What do you think? Should the ban be lifted, modified or extended?

To explore your situation or to ask questions about any of the above, contact me at 604-788-6948 or book a call back here.

 

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