In BC, the affordability debate centered on home prices, but incomes also mattered when judging whether homeownership was realistically within reach for buyers.
BC's provincial government proposed taxing newly completed condos left vacant and unsold, aiming to move standing inventory and encourage lower pricing for buyers.
The BC market was already correcting, while slow sales, minimal presales, and high construction and financing costs left developers needing inventory to move.
In BC, Real Estate and construction directly accounted for ~28% of GDP, and construction alone supported >190K jobs, tying affordability closely to incomes.
The broader BC takeaway: keep addressing housing cost and supply, while also strengthening incomes through investment, productivity, job creation, and a more diversified economy.

Canada's affordability measure improved by under 1 point in Q2 to ~53%, marking the smallest quarterly gain in nearly a year nationally.
Income growth drove the entire Q2 improvement, while home prices and borrowing costs stayed fairly steady across Canada, limiting broader affordability progress.
The economics team warned this recovery was losing fuel because stable prices and steady rates may not last, especially with upward pressure on longer-term rates.
Wage gains and a one-time federal benefit supported households in Late-Q2, yet some Canadian markets still posted their first affordability setback in several quarters.
Looking ahead, higher bond yields, possible 2027 central bank hikes, and rising utility costs could modestly raise ownership expenses as the new year begins.

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In Mid-Q3, Canada home sales slipped ~1% MoM and ~7% yearly, as economic uncertainty and higher mortgage costs weighed on market activity.
Canada’s price index was flat MoM in Mid-Q3 and ↓~3% yearly, while newly listed properties rebounded ~3% after three straight monthly declines.
The sales-to-new listings ratio eased to ~49% from ~51% in Early-Q3, moving further below its long-term avg. near 55% across Canada overall.
An economist said rising inflation risks and doubts about recent growth changed the broader backdrop, while higher bond yields pushed fixed mortgage rates upward.
At that time, markets priced in a ~60% chance of an Early-Q4 rate hike, with >1 percentage point of tightening by 2027.

For Canada, a home price index helps gauge home prices and trends in local neighborhoods, giving REALTORS® a clearer read on shifting market conditions.
Unlike avg. or median prices, the index tracks how buyers value housing features, aiming for steadier comparisons that better reflect underlying price trends.
The approach supports apples-to-apples price comparisons, helping REALTORS® explain values more accurately and giving clients clearer market context for informed home decisions.
Each month, the index uses >20 yr of listing system data and statistical models to define a typical home from sold property features.
Those benchmark homes are then tracked across neighborhoods and house types, giving REALTORS® another tool to spot trends and guide client conversations.

In Early-Q3, BC recorded 6.6K residential sales, ↓~7% yearly, while provincial sales volume reached $6.1B and avg. price eased to ~$930K provincewide.
BC's headline softness masked a widening regional divide, with recovering Interior markets offsetting continued pressure in the Lower Mainland during Early-Q3 activity.
BC's Interior helped balance the picture: Okanagan prices ↑~8%, South Peace River prices ↑~10% with sales ↑~26%, while Kamloops and Kootenay also advanced.
Seasonally adjusted sales activity rose MoM across most of BC, suggesting broader stabilization, while economists said remaining weakness stayed concentrated in the Lower Mainland.
Through Early-Q3 2026, BC dollar volume ↓~7% to $38B and unit sales ↓~6% to 40.4K; the forecast still expected 2027 growth provincewide.