Multiplex Types

What a duplex is, and what a half duplex is

A duplex is a building divided into two separate homes. A half duplex is one of those two homes, and it is what a buyer normally purchases. That distinction causes more confusion than any other word in this market, because people use duplex to mean both the building and the home inside it.

For a buyer the practical version is simple. You are buying one home. It has its own front door, its own kitchen, its own title, and one neighbouring household sharing a wall or a floor with you.

The short version

  • A duplex is the building. A half duplex is the home you buy.
  • You share the building with exactly one other household, which makes every strata decision a two way conversation.
  • Half duplexes are usually the largest homes in the multiplex family, since the building is divided only twice.
  • Shared costs split two ways, so each household carries more of a repair than in a larger building.
  • The floor plan matters more than the label: two homes can sit side by side or stacked one above the other.

What you actually get

In a side by side duplex, each home occupies one half of the building from the ground up, usually over two or three floors, with its own entrance from the street and its own piece of outdoor space. This is the arrangement most buyers picture, and in Vancouver it is the most common one on a standard lot.

In a stacked duplex, one home sits above the other. The lower home usually gets the garden and step-free access. The upper home usually gets more light and, in some neighbourhoods, a view. Both are genuine homes with separate titles; they simply sit on top of each other rather than beside each other.

Because a building is only being divided twice, half duplexes tend to be the largest homes in this family. Three bedrooms is normal and four is common, and many have a flexible room on the lower floor that families use as an office, a guest room or a space for a grandparent.

Living with exactly one neighbour

This is the defining feature of a duplex and it cuts both ways.

The good version is that you have one relationship to manage rather than five. Decisions about the building are a conversation with one household. If you get on well, a duplex runs itself, and many of the ones we see operate on an informal understanding backed by a simple set of bylaws.

The difficult version is that there is no majority to appeal to. If you and your neighbour disagree about whether the roof needs doing, there is no third owner to break the tie. That is a real risk and it is worth thinking about before you buy, particularly if you can see that the building will need work in the next few years.

In our view the answer is not to avoid duplexes. It is to look hard at the depreciation report and the strata's finances before you buy, so that the expensive decisions are already funded rather than waiting to be argued about.

Costs split two ways

Every strata divides its shared costs between the homes in the building according to the schedule registered for that strata. In a duplex, that means two homes carrying everything.

A repair that would be uncomfortable split six ways can be significant split two ways. Against that, a duplex generally has less shared property to maintain than a larger building: no shared corridors, often no shared parking structure, and a simpler set of systems. Lower shared costs divided fewer ways can land in a similar place to higher shared costs divided more ways, which is why comparing the actual fee is more useful than reasoning from the count.

Ask for the strata's depreciation report, its budget and its contingency fund balance before you commit. Those three documents tell you what the building expects to spend and whether the money is already there.

  • Ask for the depreciation report, the budget and the contingency fund balance
  • Check the strata fee against what the building actually has to maintain
  • Find out what is common property and what is yours to repair
  • Read the bylaws, particularly on renting, pets and changes to your home
  • Ask whether any large repair is already agreed but not yet paid for

Who a half duplex suits

Families who want the space of a house and can live with one shared wall. That is the short answer, and it explains why half duplexes dominate the family end of this market in Vancouver.

It suits buyers who want a garden attached to their own home rather than shared. It suits households who dislike the idea of a large strata and would rather deal with one neighbour. And it suits people trading down from a detached house who want to keep most of the space and lose most of the maintenance.

It suits two generation families particularly well when the building is stacked, because the lower home can be the step-free one and the upper home takes the stairs. That is the closest thing this market offers to two houses on one lot.

It is a weaker fit if you want the cost of major repairs spread across more households, or if you are buying at the top of your budget and would rather have a smaller home with a larger group sharing the bills.

What to check before you offer

Look at where the two homes meet. In a side by side duplex that is a wall, and you want to know which rooms sit against it on both sides. A living room against a living room is easier than a living room against a bedroom.

In a stacked duplex, look at the floor between the homes and ask what sits above each bedroom. Impact sound travels downward, so the household below hears footsteps rather than conversation.

Check the outdoor space carefully. In many duplexes the garden belongs to one home and the other has a deck or a terrace, and that allocation is fixed by the strata plan rather than negotiable between neighbours. Parking is worth the same attention: find out whether the space is part of your home or allocated to you by the strata, since an allocated space can be reallocated.

Finally, walk the street at the hour you will actually be home. A duplex sits on an ordinary residential street, and the street is a bigger part of daily life here than it is in a building with a lobby.

Ask who your neighbour will be, if the other home has already sold. This feels intrusive and it is entirely reasonable in a two home building, because you are effectively choosing a business partner as well as a home. A seller will not always know, and where they do, an honest answer tells you something useful about how the building is being sold.

Look carefully at where the boundary between the two homes runs in the strata plan, particularly outdoors. Fences, paths and driveways are the small things duplex owners argue about, and the plan settles most of those arguments before they start. If a path to your door crosses land attached to the other home, you want to know that now.

Ask how the two homes are metered as well. Separate meters for electricity, gas and water are normal in new buildings and are worth confirming, because shared metering means one household pays a bill that covers both and has to collect from the other. That arrangement works until the month it does not.

And read the bylaws for this specific strata in full. Many small stratas adopt the standard set with a handful of changes, and those changes are where the surprises live: limits on letting the home, on pets, on parking a second vehicle, on what may go on a balcony. They are short documents, and in a two home building they are effectively the rules of your relationship with your only neighbour.

Finally, check whether the bylaws for this specific strata have been customised. Many small stratas adopt the standard bylaws with a handful of changes, and those changes are where the surprises live: restrictions on letting, on pets, on parking a second vehicle, on what you may put on a balcony. They are short documents and worth reading in full.

Questions buyers ask

A half duplex is one of the two homes inside a duplex building. It has its own front door, its own kitchen and its own title, and it shares either a wall or a floor with the other home. In Vancouver listings, a home advertised as a duplex is almost always a half duplex rather than the whole building.
As a rule they are the largest homes in the multiplex family, because the building is only being divided twice rather than four or six times. Three bedrooms is normal and four is common, and many include a flexible room on the lower floor. Size still depends on the building, so compare floor areas rather than assuming.
In a two home strata there is no third owner to break a tie, which is the main practical risk of a duplex. The Strata Property Act sets out how decisions are made and what routes exist when owners cannot agree, but the better protection is buying into a building whose expensive repairs are already planned and funded.
Yes. A duplex is a strata development, so each of the two homes pays a strata fee toward the shared costs of the building, allocated according to the schedule registered for that strata. The fee is often lower than in a larger building because there is less shared property, though it is divided between only two households.
Neither arrangement is better in general, and they suit different households. Side by side homes usually give each household its own ground level entrance and outdoor space, while stacked homes put the garden and step-free access with the lower home and the light with the upper one. Match the arrangement to who is living there.
The allocation is set by the strata plan rather than agreed between the neighbours, so find out before you offer rather than assuming it is negotiable. In many duplexes the garden belongs to one home while the other has a deck or terrace, and in some the outdoor space is divided between the two.
That depends on the bylaws for that specific strata, which are a public document you can read before buying. If letting the home is something you might want to do, check that question first, because a restriction is much easier to discover before you commit than to change afterwards.
How much you hear depends on the building rather than on the format, so the only reliable test is to visit at a realistic hour rather than mid morning. Ask which rooms sit on the other side of the shared wall: a living room backing onto a living room is much easier to live with than one backing onto a bedroom.
Changes inside your own home are generally yours to make, while anything affecting common property or the outside of the building involves the strata, which in a duplex means your neighbour. Read the bylaws for the specific building before you plan work, since stratas vary in what they require approval for.
A stacked duplex is one of the better arrangements available for two generations, because the lower home can offer step-free access and the garden while the upper home takes the stairs. Two households each own a home outright, live in the same building, and keep separate front doors, which is the balance most families are looking for.
There is no published benchmark comparing resale performance by multiplex format, so anybody offering you a figure is estimating. What is observable is that half duplexes appeal to family buyers who want house sized space, which is a large pool. Judge a specific home on its location, size and condition rather than on the format alone.
Our duplex page lists what is currently available across Greater Vancouver, with the number of homes in each building, the unit mix and the neighbourhood. If you already know the areas that work for your family, filtering by city and neighbourhood is usually faster than browsing by format.

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Where these numbers come from

Every figure on this page comes from the body that issues it. Rules and rates change, so each entry says when we checked it.

  1. Strata Property Act, SBC 1998, c. 43. BC Laws, Queen's Printer for British Columbia. Accessed 29 August 2026.
  2. Greater Vancouver MLS® Home Price Index. Canadian Real Estate Association and Greater Vancouver REALTORS. July 2026 report, accessed 29 August 2026.

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