Question 1

What’s different about selling a luxury home in Vancouver?

Accepted Answer

The size of the buyer pool. At this level there just aren’t many people who can afford these homes, so if you have a buyer willing to deal, think very carefully before you stand firm. Once they’re gone, there’s so much other inventory up there that they’ll go get a deal done on another house.

Question 2

Why does the opening price matter so much on a luxury listing?

Accepted Answer

Because you don’t get a second first impression on a $5 million listing. In the first two weeks, every buyer who’s been waiting for a home like yours shows up at once, bidding against the idea of each other. After that they come one at a time, and every one of them can see how long you’ve been sitting.

Question 3

How should I price a luxury home against the competition?

Accepted Answer

Against what has closed, not what’s sitting. Pull the sales in your price range from the last 90 days and set the actives aside, because an asking price is a hope with a photo attached. Then count how many of your competitors have already cut, because those sellers have admitted their first number was off and are now priced against you.

Question 4

What do luxury house buyers look at most closely?

Accepted Answer

The bones. On a house built or fully renovated 15 or 20 years ago, buyers look hard at the building envelope, the cladding and flashing, a torch-on membrane on a flat roof and the mechanical room, and that can be a seven-figure refresh. No buyer at that price is paying 2022 money and then writing that cheque on top, which is why most of what’s moving is turnkey.

Question 5

What do luxury condo buyers check first?

Accepted Answer

The building’s paperwork. A serious buyer at that level reads the depreciation report and the Form B before they ever book a viewing, asking about the window wall seals, the elevator modernization and the contingency reserve fund, and a building with a big envelope project coming gets priced like it. They do far more homework on the strata’s financials than they would on a condo at half the price.

Question 6

How do luxury buyers behave in a slower market?

Accepted Answer

They take their time. When I looked at it in December 2025, high-end buyers were patient, selective and analytical: they waited for reductions, tracked days on market and made offers that would have been unthinkable a few years earlier. A family buying a $5 million house to live in isn’t in a rush, and a house on its second MLS® number usually loses the comparison before anyone walks through it.

Question 7

Do interest rates matter at the top of the market?

Accepted Answer

More than people think. Above about $10 million most buyers don’t need the bank, but between $4 million and $10 million a mortgage is still a real concern, and even a low rate on a five, eight or ten million dollar home is a massive carrying cost. Owners at that level with a mortgage coming up for renewal can be in for a tremendous amount of shock.

Question 8

Have taxes and government rules changed the luxury market?

Accepted Answer

I think so. When I covered it in December 2025, high-value homes had been hit with layer after layer over five years, including the foreign buyer ban, the additional property transfer tax, the speculation and vacancy tax and the empty homes tax. The foreign buyer ban was also extended into 2027, which kept a lot of international money out at the top. These rules change, so check the current ones with your lawyer or accountant.

Question 9

Where’s the value at the top end: east side or west side?

Accepted Answer

If you don’t have a location preference, look east. For the same money, what you get on Vancouver’s east side is a big step up in home, lot size and finishings compared with the west side. The east side luxury pool is small, though, because much of it was built out earlier on smaller lots, so a seller there is competing with four or five specific homes rather than the whole market.

Question 10

Should I hold out for my number?

Accepted Answer

That’s the real choice: would you rather be right about your price, or be sold? When I looked in late 2025, the values sellers had anchored to in 2022 and 2023 were no longer supported. In September 2026, every home selling at the top had done the same two things: it came out at a number the market recognized, and it did it once.

Vancouver luxury real estate