Contents 12 sections
About 61,700. That’s how many Vancouver lots zoned for houses had a building on them on the 2026 assessment roll: 61,126 in the R1-1 zone and 563 in First Shaughnessy. Most are detached houses, many with a suite or laneway house. Every R1-1 lot can now hold more homes, but only about 1 in 184 has a multiplex permit so far.
What we found
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61,700
Vancouver house lots with a building on them, on the 2026 assessment roll: 61,126 zoned R1-1 and 563 in First Shaughnessy. Strata lots not counted.
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53%
Of Vancouver’s R1-1 houses were built before 1980. 21% were built before 1940. The typical one was built in 1976.
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1 in 184
Vancouver R1-1 lots with a multiplex building permit: 342 projects on 62,765 lots, to October 2, 2026.
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1 in 64
R1-1 lots with a duplex or multiplex permit since January 2024: 639 duplexes and 342 multiplex projects.
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1.8
New homes on permits for each house torn down in Vancouver since January 2024: about 2,990 homes against 1,632 house demolitions. Suites and laneway houses not counted.
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About half
Of submitted Vancouver multiplex projects have a building permit. City staff reported more than 600 submitted by May 2026; 342 had permits by October.
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1
Multiplex permit that describes a rental covenant. Up to eight rental homes are allowed on a big lot, but almost every project so far is strata.
- 62,765Lots zoned R1-1, where a multiplex is allowed
- 600+Multiplex projects submitted to the City by May 2026
- 342Projects with a building permit by October 2, 2026
- ?Finished and lived in. The City doesn’t publish this yet
Lots: 2026 property tax report. Submitted: City staff, May 2026. Permits: T-City analysis of City of Vancouver open data, permits mentioning a multiplex grouped by lot
How old are Vancouver’s houses?
- Built before 1940
T-City analysis of the City of Vancouver property tax report, 2026 roll: 61,126 R1-1 lots (not strata) with a building assessed. 118 with no year built left out
About 1,600 more R1-1 lots had no building assessed on the roll. Many of those are between a teardown and a new home. See how long it takes to demolish and rebuild.
How many have become multiplexes?
About 1 lot in 184. By October 2, 2026, 342 multiplex projects had building permits, holding roughly 1,200 homes. Add duplexes, and about 1 lot in 64 has a permit for more than one home since January 2024.
Many of the rest already hold more than one home. About 4 in 10 houses have a suite. See how many homes are on a Vancouver house lot.
What “1 in 184” looks like
342 multiplex projects with building permits, out of 62,765 R1-1 lots on the 2026 property tax report
That’s about three years in. The first multiplex permit was issued in June 2024. Projects take about six months to get a permit, and a year or more to build.
Four words people mix up
Reports on Vancouver’s multiplexes often mix up these four steps. They are very different numbers:
- Submitted: the owner has applied. Many change or drop out
- Permitted: the City has issued the building permit. Work can start. This is what we count
- Started: crews are on site. The City’s open data doesn’t show this
- Finished: people can move in. The City doesn’t publish this by zone yet
A demolition permit is none of these. It means a house can come down, not that new homes will go up.
Year by year
| Year | Multiplex projects | Duplexes | New houses | Laneway houses | Houses torn down |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0 | 307 | 284 | 296 | 606 |
| 2024 | 32 | 271 | 222 | 399 | 534 |
| 2025 | 188 | 237 | 177 | 365 | 684 |
| 2026 (to Oct 2) | 122 | 131 | 111 | 180 | 414 |
Multiplexes took over from duplexes and new houses. In 2025, for the first time, there were fewer new houses than multiplex projects.
Homes added, homes lost
- Homes added
- Houses torn down
T-City analysis of City of Vancouver open data: issued building permits to October 2, 2026. Multiplex homes: about 1,200, from the homes listed on permits (1,069 in the 301 projects that give a number)
About 1,600 houses came down. In the same time, permits were issued for about 3,000 main homes, plus 944 laneway houses and hundreds of suites. For where they are going up, see multiplexes by neighbourhood.
Why it isn’t faster
Three things slow it down, and all of them show up in the permits:
- Permits take longer. The median multiplex permit took 192 days in 2026, up from 122 in 2024. See multiplex permits by the numbers
- The math is tight. Land is expensive, and building costs are high. Many lots work better as a duplex
- Most owners aren’t selling. A rezoned lot only changes when the owner decides to build or sell
Council asked staff in May 2026 to review the multiplex rules. That review could change what fits on a lot.
How we counted
We used the City of Vancouver’s open data: every issued building permit to October 2, 2026, and the property tax report.
Single-family homes: lots on the 2026 assessment roll zoned R1-1 or First Shaughnessy, held as one land title (not strata), with a building assessed. A few of these hold a rental duplex or an older house split into suites. The 2020 roll, under the old zones, showed about 67,700 properties with a building.
Multiplex projects: new-building permits that mention a multiplex, grouped by lot, since a project usually gets one permit for each building. Lots: every R1-1 parcel on the 2026 assessment roll. Homes: two for each duplex, one for each new house, and about 1,200 for multiplexes, from the homes listed on permits.
- We count permits, not finished homes. Some permitted projects will change or stop
- Submitted projects come from City staff, not open data
- Our October count was 339 projects. The City has since added a few permits issued before October 2
What we expect next
- About 1 lot in 115 with a multiplex permit by the end of 2027, at 150 to 180 new projects a year.
- Duplexes keep shrinking as owners who would have built a duplex build a multiplex instead.
- The first real completion count once enough projects finish for the City to report it.
Sources
Every outside figure traces to one of these pages, all opened on November 2, 2026. T-City’s own analysis uses the City of Vancouver open datasets. Rates and fee schedules change, so we recheck them for your lot during feasibility.
- City of Vancouver Open Data: Issued building permits
- City of Vancouver Open Data: Property tax report (2020 and 2026 rolls)
- Vancouver R1-1 District Schedule (June 2026)
- City of Vancouver: Memo to Mayor and Council on the R1-1 zone, May 29, 2025
- VanPlex: Vancouver Motion 9, multiplex rules to be reviewed (June 2, 2026)
- Government of BC: Small-scale multi-unit housing
