Contents 11 sections
Multiplexes are allowed on most Vancouver house lots, which are zoned R1-1. But they’re not built evenly. Shaughnessy, Hastings-Sunrise and Kitsilano build the most for their size: about 9 to 10 projects per 1,000 lots since January 2024. South Cambie and Oakridge build the fewest, about 2. City-wide, 342 multiplex projects have permits.
What we found
We counted multiplex projects with a building permit in each neighbourhood, then divided by how many R1-1 lots it has. That makes a big neighbourhood and a small one fair to compare.
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5×
The busiest neighbourhood builds multiplexes five times as often as the quietest. Shaughnessy has 10.5 multiplex permits per 1,000 R1-1 lots. South Cambie has 1.9.
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5.4
Multiplex permits per 1,000 Vancouver R1-1 lots, January 2024 to October 2, 2026. That is 342 projects on 62,765 lots.
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9+
Three neighbourhoods top 9 per 1,000 lots: Shaughnessy (10.5), Hastings-Sunrise (9.2) and Kitsilano (9.1).
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5.1 vs 5.8
East and west build at almost the same rate: 5.1 multiplex permits per 1,000 lots on the east side and 5.8 on the west, since January 2024.
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0
Vancouver neighbourhoods with no multiplex permits, among the 16 with at least 1,000 R1-1 lots. Every one has at least two.
- Under 3
- 3 to 5
- 5 to 7
- 7 to 9
- 9 or more
- Few R1-1 lots
T-City analysis of City of Vancouver open data: issued building permits to October 2, 2026; 2026 property tax report and property addresses. Outlines: City of Vancouver local area boundaries. Grey: under 1,000 R1-1 lots (Downtown, West End, Strathcona, Fairview, Mount Pleasant, Grandview-Woodland)
The darker the area, the more multiplex permits it has for its size. The number on each area is permits per 1,000 R1-1 lots.
Where are multiplexes allowed in Vancouver?
On lots zoned R1-1. That zone covers most of the city’s old single-family lots: 62,765 of them on the 2026 assessment roll. A lot’s size and frontage decide how many homes fit, from three up to six, or eight rentals on a big lot.
The grey areas on the map have fewer than 1,000 R1-1 lots. Most of their land is zoned for apartments, duplexes or shops.
Every neighbourhood, ranked
- Top three
- City-wide, 5.4
T-City analysis of City of Vancouver open data: issued building permits to October 2, 2026; 2026 property tax report (62,765 R1-1 lots, matched to local areas through the property addresses dataset). Neighbourhoods with at least 1,000 R1-1 lots
What “per 1,000 lots” looks like
Raw counts can fool you. Hastings-Sunrise has the most projects (52), but it also has more than three times as many lots as Shaughnessy. Here are two neighbourhoods side by side, as 1,000 lots each:
Shaughnessy 10.5 per 1,000 lots
South Cambie 1.9 per 1,000 lots
T-City analysis of City of Vancouver open data: issued building permits to October 2, 2026 and the 2026 property tax report. Filled squares rounded to the nearest whole lot
Same zoning, same rules. A lot in Shaughnessy is about five times as likely to get a multiplex as a lot in South Cambie.
The full table
Every neighbourhood with at least 1,000 R1-1 lots, ranked by multiplex permits per 1,000 lots. We added duplex permits since January 2024, and the median land value of an R1-1 lot, so you can see the whole picture:
| Neighbourhood | R1-1 lots | Multiplex projects | Per 1,000 lots | Duplexes | Median land value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaughnessy | 1,709 | 18 | 10.5 | 4 | $3.72M |
| Hastings-Sunrise | 5,630 | 52 | 9.2 | 76 | $1.57M |
| Kitsilano | 1,765 | 16 | 9.1 | 39 | $2.38M |
| Kerrisdale | 3,192 | 26 | 8.1 | 24 | $3.08M |
| Arbutus Ridge | 2,939 | 21 | 7.1 | 18 | $2.88M |
| Kensington-Cedar Cottage | 6,021 | 37 | 6.1 | 80 | $1.61M |
| West Point Grey | 3,362 | 17 | 5.1 | 26 | $2.71M |
| Dunbar-Southlands | 6,229 | 28 | 4.5 | 67 | $2.67M |
| Killarney | 3,357 | 15 | 4.5 | 20 | $1.82M |
| Victoria-Fraserview | 5,658 | 25 | 4.4 | 31 | $1.75M |
| Marpole | 2,546 | 11 | 4.3 | 28 | $2.10M |
| Riley Park | 4,528 | 17 | 3.8 | 55 | $1.98M |
| Renfrew-Collingwood | 6,331 | 23 | 3.6 | 49 | $1.58M |
| Sunset | 6,263 | 22 | 3.5 | 36 | $1.66M |
| Oakridge | 2,100 | 5 | 2.4 | 3 | $3.14M |
| South Cambie | 1,026 | 2 | 1.9 | 10 | $2.68M |
Six permits don’t name a neighbourhood, and one is in Mount Pleasant, which has almost no R1-1 lots. Those seven are in the city total but not the table.
Does land value decide it?
Not on its own. The two ends of the list break the pattern:
- Shaughnessy has the priciest land on the list (median $3.72M a lot) and the highest rate
- Hastings-Sunrise has the cheapest land ($1.57M) and the second-highest rate
- Oakridge has pricey land too ($3.14M), but one of the lowest rates
Our read: big west-side lots can fit five or six homes, which helps pricey land pay off. On the east side, cheaper land makes a three- or four-home project work on a 33 ft lot. The middle is where the numbers are hardest. See duplex vs triplex vs multiplex for how lot size changes the choice. And the rezoning itself hasn’t lifted land values: does upzoning increase property value?
Duplexes moved west too
Since 2017, about 7 in 10 new duplexes have been on the east side (see the duplex rules). Since January 2024, though, the split matches where the lots are: 61% of duplex permits are east, and the east has 60% of R1-1 lots.
Kitsilano stands out. It has 31 duplex and multiplex permits per 1,000 lots since 2024, the most of any neighbourhood.
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.
A multiplex usually gets two permits, one for the front building and one for the back. So we grouped permits that mention a multiplex by lot (same street, house numbers close together) and counted projects, not permits. The neighbourhood is the one on the permit.
Lots are every R1-1 parcel on the 2026 assessment roll (62,765), matched to a neighbourhood through the City’s property address data. We used January 2024 as the start, since the first multiplex permit was issued in June 2024.
- Counts are permits, not finished homes. The City doesn’t publish completions by zone
- We left out neighbourhoods with fewer than 1,000 R1-1 lots, where a single permit swings the rate
- A few counts sit slightly above our October posts, because the City added some permits to its data later
What it means if you own a lot
- Your neighbourhood’s rate tells you what buyers and builders are already betting on. It doesn’t decide what your lot can hold
- Check your frontage and lot size first. They set how many homes you can build. A lot feasibility study confirms it before you pay for design
- Look at the numbers for your lot, not the average. We run them for free. See our Vancouver building rules
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.
