The rental apartment investment market receded in Metro Vancouver in the first half of 2025, with far lower transaction and dollar volumes, particularly in the suburbs, says a new report.
Sales volume in the first half was down 40 per cent from the same period in 2024 to $537.3 million, while the number of transactions fell 46 per cent to 32 transactions, according to Tuesday's mid-year Goodman Report from broker Goodman Commercial Inc.
The drop-off in activity was concentrated in the suburbs, where just six properties totalling $128.4 million traded hands, compared with 31 properties totalling $461.7 million in the first half of 2024. Transactions and dollar volume fell 81 per cent and 72 per cent, respectively.
“The suburban transaction level was the lowest in over 20 years; even during the height of the COVID pandemic and 2008 global financial crisis, there were more than twice as many sales,” said the report.
The City of Vancouver saw greater activity, recording 26 transactions totalling $408.9 million, down seven and five per cent, respectively, from the first half of 2024.
The report also noted the following:
- New construction continued to play an outsized role, accounting for 64 per cent of total dollar volume, with an average deal size of $42.9 million compared with $8.1 million for legacy buildings;
- Government and non-profit buyer activity returned to historical norms, accounting for three transactions compared with 14 transactions in the first half of 2024;
- The Metro Vancouver buyer profile was 74 per cent private, 18 per cent institutional and nine per cent government and non-profit.
“There’s been a continued downward trend in values,” said Mark Goodman, principal of Goodman Commercial Inc., ahead of the report’s release.
“We sold a couple buildings in Marpole that are hovering around $240,000 to $250,000 a unit, which was a pretty deep discount from where it was selling three years ago, and even a year ago,” Goodman said.
“Same thing in the West End. We just sold a building, nobody was interested until we dropped the price to $245,000 a door. That is really, really cheap.”
The report forecasts a “much busier” second half, with deals still possible in a “complex” and “nuanced” environment where neither sellers nor buyers hold an advantage, it said.
