Should You Buy or Sell First in Vancouver?

If you're planning a move, should you sell your current home first or find the next one before you list?

Selling first gives you a clearer idea of what you can spend. Buying first lets you secure a home you want, but you need a plan if your current place takes longer to sell than expected.

I'd start with three things: what your home is likely to sell for, what your lender will approve, and how flexible you can be with timing.

Selling first or buying first

Selling first. Once your sale is firm, you have a clearer budget and may not need a subject-to-sale condition on your next purchase. Financing approval, the inspection and a proper read of the property documents still matter. The trade-off is pressure at the other end: your sale has a completion date, and if you haven't found the next place by then it's a short-term rental, a stay with family, or two moves.

Buying first. You get the home you want without a clock running on the search, and if the dates line up you move once. The trade-off is financial: you may own two homes for a while, you have to qualify for both, and if the market softens before your sale closes, that's yours to absorb.

In a slow market, selling is the uncertain side, which tilts most people toward selling first or making the purchase conditional on the sale. In a fast market it can flip. Where things sit this month is below.

The questions that decide it

Before picking an order, these are what I'd want to work through with you, with your lender in the loop:

1. What would your current home realistically sell for, and how long would it take right now? I'd base that range on recent comparable sales and the listings you'd be competing with, and look at how long similar homes are sitting. That's what the pricing review is for.
2. Could you qualify to carry both homes for a few months if you had to? If not, buying first without a condition is off the table, and the real choice is between selling first and a subject-to-sale offer.
3. Where would the deposit on the purchase come from? It's usually due within days of removing subjects, well before your sale money arrives.
4. What does your mortgage allow? Ask your lender to confirm the porting rules, the penalty if porting doesn't work out, and the timing, in writing, before you agree to completion dates.
5. How specific is the home you want? If you have several suitable options, selling first and shopping is simpler. If it's a particular layout in a small area that rarely comes up, it may be worth paying for flexibility.
6. What is your gap plan? A longer completion on your sale, a short rental, a friend's spare room: decide what you could live with before the clock is running.

For example, say you're moving from a Mount Pleasant condo to a townhouse. If you're open to several neighbourhoods and layouts, selling first may give you enough flexibility to find something suitable afterward. If you're after a particular layout in a small area, I'd want to check how often those homes come up before deciding on the order. We'd also look at the competition for your condo; the homes you're choosing between and the homes your buyer is choosing between may be quite different.

Ways to manage the timing

A subject-to-sale offer

In BC you can make an offer on the next home that's conditional on selling your current one by a stated date. You get the home without owning two. Here's what to understand before making that kind of offer:

• You have to make real efforts to sell. If you haven't sold by the deadline, you can end the contract or remove the condition and go ahead anyway. Watch the mechanics: depending on how the clause is written, you may need to give notice by the deadline, and missing it can leave you bound to buy.
• The seller usually adds an escape clause, often called a 48- or 72-hour clause, though the hours are whatever you agree. They keep marketing, and if another acceptable offer comes in, you get written notice and that many hours to remove your condition or let the deal go.
• Whether a seller will accept one depends on the competition for that home that week, which I can tell you before you write. And the purchase only works if your sale happens at a price that makes it work, so an honest number comes first.

Completion dates and the deposit

The simplest tool is the calendar. Here's a made-up example of how the pieces fit:

Two things that example shows. The deposit and the completion money are separate problems, and bridge financing covers the second one, not the first. And a longer completion on your sale buys time to find the next place; buyers often agree, but it's a negotiated term like any other, and in a competitive situation it can cost you.

Sometimes a buyer will let you stay on for a few weeks after completion in exchange for rent. It can solve a gap neatly, but a paid stay after completion can look like a tenancy under the Residential Tenancy Act, with consequences for the new owner, so have the lawyer or notary draft it. If you end up renting for a while instead, get actual quotes for a furnished short-term place rather than working from average rents; they're different markets.

Bridge financing

A bridge loan covers the gap between your purchase completing and your sale completing. One important requirement: the banks want a firm sale agreement on your existing home. RBC's bridge financing page says so directly, and TD asks for copies of both the sale and purchase agreements. So it solves a gap of days or weeks between two firm deals; it doesn't let you buy while your home is still on the market, and it doesn't fund the deposit. TD describes the bridge period as typically up to 90 days and RBC says around six months; the rate is higher than a mortgage rate and the costs vary by lender.

Where the market sits: September 2026

Greater Vancouver REALTORS® reported 1,717 residential sales in September 2026, down 8.4% from a year earlier, against 16,394 active listings. The sales-to-active-listings ratio was 10.9% overall: 9.7% for detached houses, 12.2% for attached homes and 11.4% for apartments. GVR's rule of thumb is that prices come under downward pressure when the ratio stays below about 12% for a sustained period, and upward pressure when it stays above about 20%. The composite benchmark was $1,075,900, down 5.5% in a year.

So right now a listed home has a lot of competition and no guarantee of a quick sale, while a buyer has choice and some room on terms. That favours selling first, or buying with a subject-to-sale condition, for most households. The October numbers come out in early November, and your building or block can differ from the region, which is why question one above comes first.

Mortgage and tax points to check

Brief here, because each has its own guide or official page.

• Qualifying for two mortgages. Lenders count your existing mortgage, taxes and heating in your ratios and generally won't drop them until your sale is firm. Federally regulated lenders also test uninsured mortgages at the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25% (OSFI's rule, last updated January 2026).
• Porting. Taking your rate and terms to the new home can reduce or avoid a prepayment penalty, but it isn't automatic: the lender has to approve you and the new property, changes to the amount matter, and both deals have to complete within the lender's window (CIBC's page, for example, describes advancing the new mortgage up to 120 days before the old one is paid off). Ask yours for its rules.
• Penalties. On a closed mortgage, breaking early usually costs the greater of three months' interest or the interest rate differential. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada's example on a $200,000 balance comes out to roughly $3,000 one way and $12,000 the other, so get your lender's actual number before you set dates.
• Property transfer tax is paid on the purchase, on fair market value: 1% on the first $200,000, 2% up to $2,000,000, 3% above that, and a further 2% on residential value above $3,000,000. The closing costs guide covers the exemptions.
• Flipping taxes. BC's home flipping tax applies to profit on a home sold within 730 days of buying it, with a deduction of up to $20,000 if you owned it at least 365 consecutive days and lived in it as your primary residence; most exemptions still require a return. The federal rule treats profit on a home owned less than 365 days as business income. If you bought recently, check the dates before you list.
• Principal residence exemption. The rules include a "plus one" year that can cover a changeover year when you own two homes, but it depends on how each property is designated. A question for your accountant, not an assumption.
• The deposit and the rescission period. Your deposit sits in the brokerage's trust account; if a deal collapses it's normally released when all parties sign a release, and without one it can end up paid into court. The exception is the Home Buyer Rescission Period: on eligible residential purchases you can cancel within three business days of acceptance for a fee of 0.25% of the price, paid out of the deposit without a separate agreement. It's a safety valve, not a planning tool.

The selling side, from commission to the mortgage payout, is in the cost of selling guide.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a bridge loan before my home is sold?

Generally not. The banks want a firm sale agreement on your existing home first; a bridge loan covers the gap between two firm completion dates, not a home that's still on the market.

Will a seller accept my offer if it's subject to the sale of my home?

It depends on the competition for that home that week. A seller with few other offers is more likely to say yes, usually with a 48- or 72-hour escape clause attached; with multiple offers on the table, rarely.

When is the deposit due, and where does it come from?

Usually within a day or so of removing subjects, and before your sale money is available. It comes from savings, a line of credit or similar; bridge financing is for the completion date, not the deposit.

Does the three-day rescission period let me back out if my sale falls through?

Only within three business days of acceptance, on eligible purchases, and it costs 0.25% of the price. It isn't a substitute for a subject-to-sale condition.