Adapting and advising on real estate’s front lines.

You can feel it out there: our market has shifted gears. In August, Fraser Valley home sales fell more than 20 per cent from July and sat 36 per cent below the 10-year average, while listings held high and steady at over 10,400. Prices have softened, timelines have lengthened, and buyers are back in a position to negotiate. For REALTORS®, that changes the rhythm of our work. We’re guiding clients who may have been on the sidelines for months, helping them weigh opportunity against uncertainty, and recalibrating strategies for a market that now clearly favours buyers.

The backdrop to these numbers matters. As Neil Moody highlights in this issue (p. 26), BC shed 16,000 construction jobs in July, an unmistakable warning for future housing supply. Layered fees, higher interest rates, and escalating costs are stalling projects just as pent-up demand starts to build. Richard Littlemore’s analysis (p. 12) underscores how stretched affordability has become, with investor purchases of Metro Vancouver condos plunging from more than 50 per cent in 2022 to 14 per cent today. This is the environment through which we are guiding and advising buyers and sellers.

Against this reality, our job as REALTORS® is to stay nimble: to understand shifting demand, to help clients seize opportunities in a buyer’s market, and to advocate for conditions that will support a healthy housing ecosystem in the Valley. Conferences like PacificWest 2025 give us a critical venue to learn and share ideas, but the real work happens every day—in our offices, in our communities, and at the kitchen tables of the people we serve.