As buyers navigate a low-supply market, finding a home under $200,000 is few and far between. 

In B.C., cities such as Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, City of North Vancouver, Coquitlam and Burnaby have zero homes under this price, according to a new report from Point2Homes. 

The report describes finding a home of this price as a “race against the clock.” 

“The ones who really need to hurry and make up their minds are buyers in Abbotsford and Richmond. Each of these two cities had only one home under $200,000 at the time the data was gathered,” said the report. 

Maple Ridge is the only one which comes close to having one per cent of available housing stock under $200,000. To compare, there were no homes available under this price in 2022. 

Across Canada, 15 of the 50 largest and most expensive cities, eight of which are in B.C., have homes for sale under $200,000. 

The average home price in B.C. was 995,506 as of May 2023. This is down 5.6 per cent compared to the average price of close to $1.1 million in April 2022, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA). While prices have declined since 2022, May marked the third consecutive month that prices rose in the province. 

The spring market saw a renewal of activity with buyers experiencing an increase in confidence. However, the recovery in sales has not been matched by available listings. 

“As a result, average prices across the province are once again rising, recovering much of the decline since prices peaked early last year,” said Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist for BCREA, in their May report. 

At the time of the Point2Homes report, Vancouver had nearly 3,000 listings with none costing less than $200K. Of Surrey’s 2,300 homes at the time of the report's publication, there were two homes with asking prices below $200,000.