Even as economic headwinds blow through the sector, Metro Vancouver’s rental apartment resale market achieved stronger results than many expected in 2025, according to a year-end report from Goodman Commercial. 

"I feel like the multifamily market is being held back, and I feel like it's a manufactured problem here in B.C." said Mark Goodman, principal with the Vancouver-based firm, in an interview with RENX.

The overall metrics for apartment sales in the region provide some mixed messages. 

In the City of Vancouver, overall dollar volume for sales fell by 24 per cent last year compared to 2024. In the suburban markets, dollar volume dropped by 33 per cent. 

The overall number of buildings that sold, though, actually ticked up by two per cent in Vancouver but dropped by 42 per cent in the suburbs. 

Another key metric — average pricing — fell by 12 per cent in the City of Vancouver but moved up four per cent in the suburbs. 

Transactions below 10-year averages

The numbers are not great, but are far from the worst, Goodman said, placing 2025 somewhere in the middle based on recent years. For example, building transactions and dollar volumes were both well below the 10-year averages, but both metrics ranked fourth over the past seven years (2019–2025).

Goodman puts most of the blame for the softer rental investment market on what he characterizes as anti-business and anti-investment policies in the province, as well as macro headwinds beyond the control of the local industry, including interest rates, inflation and rising construction costs. 

"The value proposition of owning and managing and building in rental housing is not what it used to be," Goodman said. 

In terms of overall apartment investment dollar volume, $1.3 billion changed hands in 2025, 28 per cent less than in 2024, according to the report. 2024 produced three sales above $100 million and five sales above $65 million, but sales of that size all but disappeared in 2025. Just one transaction exceeding that figure, the report said. 

Investment might sink lower

Goodman said it feels like the rental investment market has not hit the bottom yet, with developers in the broader housing industry now rarely seeking older apartment buildings to redevelop, nor land for new housing developments. 

"The trend this year is that less properties were purchased for development than in previous years and as a result, we didn't see any significant increase in price. What we saw was a decrease in prices, particularly in Vancouver," Goodman said. 

"The majority of my phone calls right now are from developers that are stuck, and we have about a dozen proposals on the go from developers that are pivoting from condo to rental."

Many developers who are already deep into housing developments have been increasingly building new purpose-built rentals.

Rental vacancy in region at 30-year high 

​​In Vancouver, purpose-built rental market vacancy reached the highest level in 30 years, according to the CMHC's 2025 Rental Market Report. Vacancy had reached 3.7 per cent with average two-bedroom rent up by 2.2 per cent to $2,363, the report said.

Last year, the completion of new rental units outpaced the five-year average for completions, CMHC said.

Vancouver-based Chard Development, a developer active in commercial, condo and rental construction and management, recently told RENX it has over 3,000 rental homes either under construction or completed in the market. 

It's a good time to be a renter, Goodman acknowledged. "If I'm a tenant in the market, it kind of feels like, man, I've got my choices out there.”

That’s partly because demand for rental homes is softer, Goodman said, suggesting the federal government's ongoing reduction of temporary foreign workers and international students is driving down demand. So too, he says, is a sluggish economy that could be preventing people from seeking new homes — rental or otherwise. 

Goodman expected the pain for sellers will likely continue until there is a big change in B.C. 

"Meantime, there will be trades and multifamily, because we've had a reset and I think prices have stabilized," Goodman said. "It's not all doom and gloom…. We have a balanced market. It's not a seller's market; it's moreso a buyer's market."