Selling and Buying in a Down Market: Why Move-Up Buyers Could Actually Benefit

Selling for less does not necessarily mean losing. For Langley and Fraser Valley homeowners moving into a more expensive property, a declining market can create unexpected opportunities. Here is the math most people miss.

Here is one of the biggest misconceptions about a down market.

"I don't want to sell because I'll get less for my house."

That may be true. But if you are selling one property and buying another, you are participating in the same market twice, on both sides of the transaction. And that changes the math completely, in a way that most homeowners never actually sit down and calculate.

Look at the Gap, Not Just Your Sale Price

Imagine you own a townhouse worth $800,000 in a stronger market and want to buy a detached home worth $1.5 million.

The difference between those two numbers, your move-up gap, is $700,000.

Now imagine both properties fall 10 percent.

Your townhouse becomes approximately $720,000. The detached home becomes approximately $1.35 million. Now the difference is $630,000.

You sold for $80,000 less than you would have in the stronger market. But you potentially purchased for $150,000 less. Your upgrade gap narrowed by roughly $70,000, purely because the more expensive home fell by more dollars, even at the same percentage decline.

It is a simplified example, but it shows exactly why homeowners should not evaluate their sale and their purchase independently. Looking only at your sale price tells you half the story at best.

Current Fraser Valley Numbers Make This Particularly Relevant

The July benchmark prices were:

• $757,300 for townhouses

• $1,335,200 for detached homes

Detached values were down 8.3 percent year over year, compared with a 7.1 percent decrease for townhouses. That gap between the two percentages might look small on paper, but once you apply it to actual dollar values, it works strongly in favour of anyone trying to move from attached housing into a detached home right now.

For someone trying to move from a condo into a townhouse, or from a townhouse into a detached home, that is worth paying close attention to. The amount you "lose" on your sale is not the whole equation. The more useful question is always this: what happens to the price gap between what I own and what I actually want to buy?

The Bigger the Upgrade, the Bigger the Potential Benefit

This effect tends to get stronger the further up the price ladder you are moving.

A buyer moving from a $500,000 condo to a $750,000 townhouse will see a smaller dollar benefit from market-wide declines than a buyer moving from a $750,000 townhouse to a $1.5 million detached home, simply because the gap between the two price points is larger to begin with. The same percentage decline applied to a bigger gap produces a bigger dollar swing in the buyer's favour.

This is one of the more counterintuitive parts of a down market. The homeowners with the most room to move up in price tend to have the most to gain from a broad market correction, not the least, even though it can feel like the opposite when you are only looking at your own sale price.

You May Also Have More Negotiating Power

Move-up buyers are not only benefiting from softer prices. They are also shopping in a market with significantly more inventory to choose from.

With 10,044 active listings across the Fraser Valley in July, qualified buyers have far more choice than they would during a highly competitive seller's market. Depending on the property, that may make it easier to negotiate:

• Price

• Subject-to-sale clauses, so you are not carrying two mortgages at once

• Financing subjects

• Proper inspections instead of waiving them

• Longer completion dates that give you breathing room between closings

• Inclusions or repair credits

Those conditions can make coordinating a sale and a purchase considerably less stressful, especially the subject-to-sale piece, which is often nearly impossible to negotiate in a hot seller's market and much more realistic in a market like this one.

The Hardest Market Isn't Always the Down Market

Think back to a strong seller's market for a moment.

You might sell your townhouse quickly and for an incredible price. That feels great in the moment. Then you become the buyer. Suddenly you are competing against ten other families for the one detached home you actually want. You are potentially writing subject-free just to be competitive. You are paying well over asking. And there may only be two or three appropriate homes available in your target neighbourhood at any given time.

Your strong sale does not necessarily make your overall move better. In fact, for a lot of move-up buyers, the hot seller's market years were the hardest years to actually pull off an upgrade, even though their own home sold for a record price.

This Market May Reward People Who Think Long-Term

BCREA has noted that improved affordability, combined with several years of pent-up buyer demand, could create the conditions for a future rebound, although households may need a period of economic stability before returning to the market in greater numbers.

That is one reason move-up buyers should not automatically view falling prices as bad news. If your goal is to own your next home for five, ten, or fifteen years, getting into the right property at a more manageable upgrade gap can matter far more than maximizing the theoretical peak value of the home you are leaving behind. The home you are moving into will very likely be worth more than what you paid for it at some point over that time horizon, regardless of exactly where the market sits the month you buy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it a good time to move up to a bigger home in the Fraser Valley? For many move-up buyers, yes. Because higher priced homes tend to fall by more dollars than lower priced homes during the same percentage decline, the gap between what you sell and what you buy often narrows in your favour.

How do I know if a down market actually helps my specific move? It depends on the price gap between your current home and the home you want. The bigger that gap, the more a broad market decline tends to work in your favour. This is worth calculating with real numbers rather than assuming based on headlines.

What is a subject-to-sale clause and why does it matter for move-up buyers? It is a condition that lets you make an offer on a new home contingent on selling your current one first, so you avoid carrying two mortgages. It is far easier to negotiate in a buyer's market like this one than during a competitive seller's market.

Should I sell first or buy first when moving up in the Fraser Valley? This depends on your risk tolerance, financing, and the specific properties involved. With more inventory and more negotiating room available right now, subject-to-sale offers and longer completion timelines are more realistic than they have been in years, which opens up more options than a strict sell-first or buy-first approach.

Thinking About Moving Up?

Before deciding whether now is a good or bad time, let's calculate your actual move-up gap using real numbers, not assumptions.

I can estimate what your current home could realistically sell for and compare it with recent sale prices of the homes you would actually want to buy. That number, your true upgrade gap, is usually far more useful than looking at market headlines alone, and it is often the difference between feeling stuck and realizing this might be exactly the right window to make your move.