A home for sale in Vancouver, B.C. Photo by Jennifer Gauthier/Bloomberg files

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Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley are closing in on a record that few real estate types want broken: the most court-ordered residential listings in at least two decades.

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That’s the forecast from Zealty.ca, says Hamidreza Etebarian, president of the real estate listing site.

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Through September, he tells me, the two regions had racked up 946 court-ordered listings. The high in Zealty’s records is 1,174, set in 2012 — in the hangover from the global financial crisis.

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But the number of listings is one thing. How long they’re taking to sell is another.

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In a typical year, about 60 per cent of court-ordered listings (more than 80 per cent of which are foreclosures) would sell, says Etebarian. And 50 per cent are usually gone by September.

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In 2026, just 38 per cent have sold so far.

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“It’s a soft market,” he said. “That’s the main reason.”

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“All these court-ordered sales are a sign of the economic times.”

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The distress has also moved upmarket.

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Through August, court-ordered listings in West Vancouver were running at nearly four times their crisis-era pace, while the city’s pricey Westside was at about two and a half times.

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“We just saw one in Shaughnessy listed for $17 million and it sold for $10 million,” he says. (A $7-million haircut, for those keeping score.)

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“These are wealthier families who stretched themselves too thin,” Etebarian said.

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Many need to renew and are finding they can no longer service the debt. Surging fixed mortgage rates aren’t helping, and now they have to liquidate.

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Court-ordered sales were never speedy

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This year, according to Zealty, they’re taking three times as long to sell as regular listings (a median of about 70 days versus 23).

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Etebarian’s list of reasons is long: the process is slower, closing is more complicated, buyers have to bid, the seller may not be pricing the home right, and the place might be in rough shape.

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“They aren’t fire sales,” he explained, as courts try to ensure a property is sold as close as possible to its fair market value.

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But you can still get a deal, he said. Lenders can be motivated on properties that sit because they’re losing money each month.

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Year-to-date, court-ordered properties are selling for about 14 per cent below assessed value, Zealty reports. A regular sale might trade at roughly a five per cent discount.

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“You’re not getting the 30 to 40 per cent off that people assume.”

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So it’s a better bargain, but not a heist.

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If foreclosures interest you — as a buyer, hopefully — Zealty is one of the few places to find them free.

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And if one catches your eye, here’s the typical path from offer to keys, according to the company:

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Step 1: The lender accepts your offer, subject to court approval. This can take a week or more.

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Step 2: The buyer removes all subjects within one to two weeks. (The court only approves unconditional offers.)