Burnaby or New Westminster? Where to Buy a New Home in 2026

Should you buy in Burnaby or New Westminster? If you want a new half duplex, buy in Burnaby: on October 8, 2026, our copy of the MLS® feed showed 83 new half duplexes in Burnaby and none in New Westminster. If you want a new townhome under $1.3 million, both cities had homes at a similar price per square foot, so the choice comes down to where you want to live.

The two cities share a border, which follows Tenth Avenue for much of its length, and they share the Expo Line. If you are also weighing Vancouver or Coquitlam, we have compared Vancouver and Burnaby and Coquitlam and Burnaby in separate posts.

The short answer

Choose Burnaby if you want a new half duplex, a home with a legal suite, a long list to choose from, or a lower property tax rate. Choose New Westminster if you want a new townhome near Royal Columbian Hospital, Queen's Park or the Fraser River, and a short list of homes is enough for you.

In our view, the choice comes down to how many homes you want to compare and where you want to live. At $1,299,000 or less, Burnaby had 19 new homes and New Westminster had 7, at a similar price per square foot: a median of $722 in Burnaby and $727 in New Westminster. The middle asking price of all new homes was $1,648,000 in Burnaby and $999,888 in New Westminster, because Burnaby's list includes its half duplexes.

What is for sale in each city right now

On October 8, 2026, our copy of the MLS® feed listed 130 new homes for sale in Burnaby and 7 in New Westminster. Our copy holds only new homes built in 2025 or later, so older homes are left out of every figure here. The feed was last refreshed that morning at 10:09 AM Pacific. All prices are asking prices.

The median is the middle price on the list: half the homes asked more and half asked less.

Burnaby, 130 new homes: - Half duplexes: 83 listings, $1,299,000 to $3,380,000, median $1,799,000. - Townhomes: 35 listings, $555,000 to $1,699,999, median $1,369,900. - Listed as detached houses: 11 listings, median $1,980,000. Ten share a lot with other new homes. - Row house: 1 listing, $849,900.

Our Burnaby prices by neighbourhood report breaks these down by area.

New Westminster, 7 new homes: - All 7 are filed as townhomes. None is filed as a duplex, half duplex, triplex or fourplex. - Asking prices ran from $849,900 to $1,299,000, with a median of $999,888. - Sizes ran from 1,107 to 1,697 square feet, with 2 or 3 bedrooms. - Five are in Queensborough, one is in Sapperton and one is downtown.

One limit of our data: our copy picks up new homes on a shared lot that the agent filed as a "detached house" only in Vancouver and Burnaby. A New Westminster home filed that way would be missing, so the like-for-like count is 119 Burnaby homes against 7.

The 7 New Westminster homes, one by one

Here is the full New Westminster list from October 8, 2026. Walking distances to the nearest SkyTrain station come from OpenStreetMap walking routes.

• 101 Cunningham Street (downtown): $849,900, 2 bedrooms, 1,107 square feet, strata fee $565.32 a month. The listing says it has its own entrance. Columbia Station is 801 metres on foot.
• 1115 Roma Avenue (Queensborough): two homes, $874,888 (2 bedrooms, 1,297 square feet) and $999,888 (3 bedrooms, 1,536 square feet), in a group of 36 homes. 22nd Street Station is 2.9 km on foot.
• 388 Duncan Street (Queensborough): two homes, $929,900 (3 bedrooms, 1,284 square feet) and $1,119,900 (3 bedrooms, 1,518 square feet), in a group of 160 homes. 22nd Street Station is 2.1 km on foot.
• 1005 Ewen Avenue (Queensborough): $1,074,900, 3 bedrooms, 1,479 square feet, in a group of 23 homes. The listing gives 2027 as the year built, so ask when you could move in. 22nd Street Station is 2.1 km on foot.
• 339 Keary Street (Sapperton): $1,299,000, 3 bedrooms, 1,697 square feet, in a group of 9 townhomes according to the listing. Sapperton Station is 562 metres on foot.

Price per square foot ran from $651 to $768, with a median of $727. Burnaby's 19 new homes at $1,299,000 or less had a median of $722 per square foot, and 14 of them had 3 or more bedrooms.

New Westminster's new homes are townhomes

Six of the seven New Westminster homes sit in townhome groups of 9 to 160 homes. A duplex, triplex or fourplex shares one lot with one to three neighbours. A 160-home group shares its common areas and strata budget with many more homes, so its fees and rules work differently. Decide which kind of home you want before you compare prices. The New Westminster guide covers the city's neighbourhoods.

If you like New Westminster but want a half duplex, look across Tenth Avenue in East Burnaby. On October 8, its 11 new half duplexes asked from $1,599,999 to $1,999,000, with a median of $1,648,000, and four described a legal suite. Our East Burnaby guide covers each one. Edmonds, to its west, had 4 new half duplexes with a median of $1,299,000. The Burnaby duplexes for sale page shows the current list.

Down payment and tax breaks change with the price

Under the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada rules, a home priced under $1.5 million needs 5% of the first $500,000 and 10% of the rest. A home at $1.5 million or more needs 20% down.

• New Westminster median, $999,888: minimum down payment $74,988.80.
• Burnaby townhome median, $1,369,900: minimum down payment $111,990.
• Burnaby half duplex median, $1,799,000: minimum down payment $359,800.

All 7 New Westminster homes asked under $1.5 million. In Burnaby, 44 of the 130 did, and 16 of those were half duplexes.

Two tax breaks for new homes have price limits, and most of the New Westminster list falls under them:

• BC's newly built home exemption from property transfer tax is full on a new home with a fair market value of $1,100,000 or less and partial up to $1,150,000, according to the Province of BC. You must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and live in the home. At asking price, 5 of the 7 New Westminster homes were at or under $1,100,000 and one more was in the partial range. In Burnaby, 10 homes were at or under $1,100,000 and one was in the partial range.
• The first-time home buyers' GST rebate covers 100% of the GST on a new home valued up to $1 million and reduces it between $1 million and $1.5 million, according to the Canada Revenue Agency. At asking price, 4 New Westminster homes and 7 Burnaby homes were at or under $1 million.

Both depend on the final price and your own situation, so ask a lawyer or notary to confirm them before you sign.

Getting around: SkyTrain in each city

Burnaby has 11 SkyTrain stations on two lines. New Westminster has 5, all on the Expo Line.

• Burnaby stations (City of Burnaby station map data): Patterson, Metrotown, Royal Oak and Edmonds on the Expo Line; Gilmore, Brentwood Town Centre, Holdom, Sperling-Burnaby Lake and Lake City Way on the Millennium Line; Production Way-University and Lougheed Town Centre on both lines.
• New Westminster stations: 22nd Street, New Westminster, Columbia, Sapperton and Braid, all on the Expo Line. Queensborough has no station.

Here are the scheduled rides to Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver, from TransLink's schedule data for Wednesday, October 28, 2026, for trains leaving between 7 and 9 a.m.:

• Patterson 17 to 18 minutes, Metrotown 19 to 20, Royal Oak 21 to 22, Edmonds 23 to 24 (Burnaby).
• 22nd Street 26 to 27 minutes, New Westminster 29 to 30, Columbia 31 to 32, Sapperton 34 to 35, Braid 36 to 37 (New Westminster).

From Brentwood Town Centre, the Millennium Line reaches Commercial-Broadway in 8 to 9 minutes, where you change to the Expo Line.

In those two hours, 60 trains left New Westminster Station toward downtown, one every 2 minutes on average. Sapperton and Braid had 19 and 20, one every 6 minutes on average.

Of Burnaby's 130 new listings, 125 had a map location, and 17 of those were within 800 metres of a SkyTrain station in a straight line. In New Westminster, 2 of the 7 were: Keary Street near Sapperton and Cunningham Street near Columbia. The three Queensborough listings were 2.1 to 2.9 km on foot from 22nd Street Station. Routes 104, 340, 410 and 418 run between Queensborough and that station.

Schools: two districts with different shapes

Burnaby and New Westminster each run their own school district, and they organise grades differently.

• Burnaby School District 41 runs 41 elementary schools and 8 secondary schools, with 27,000 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12, according to the district's overview page. Children move from Grade 7 at elementary school to Grade 8 at the catchment high school.
• New Westminster School District 40 runs 8 elementary schools, 3 middle schools and New Westminster Secondary School, which the district describes as its main secondary school, with 2,400 students in Grades 9 to 12 by the district's own estimate.

New Westminster's district says it is short of space. Its capacity page says classroom spaces, including portables, have reached the maximum allowed, and that 11 of its 12 school sites are smaller than provincial standards. A new elementary school for 605 students, next to Fraser River Middle School, was announced in November 2025, with work expected to start in fall 2026, according to the district's project page.

In both cities, your exact address decides your catchment school. Check the district's school locator for the address before you make an offer.

Parks and everyday amenities

Both cities have large parks with pools, trails and playing fields.

• Burnaby has over 150 parks, according to the City of Burnaby. The largest it lists by size is Central Park, at 86 hectares (212.5 acres), next to Patterson Station.
• New Westminster's Queen's Park is its 75-acre main park, established in 1887. Hume Park covers 31.72 acres and has an outdoor pool. Ryall Park in Queensborough covers 22.8 acres. Westminster Pier Park has a 325-metre boardwalk on the river, according to the City.

Royal Columbian Hospital is at 330 East Columbia Street in New Westminster and Burnaby Hospital at 3935 Kincaid Street in Burnaby, according to Fraser Health.

Property tax and electricity

New Westminster's 2026 residential property tax rate is higher than Burnaby's. A property tax rate is charged per $1,000 of the home's assessed value from BC Assessment, which can differ from the price you pay.

• Burnaby, 2026: $3.28373 per $1,000 of assessed value, all taxing bodies included, according to the City of Burnaby.
• New Westminster, 2026: $4.79312 per $1,000, according to the City's 2026 tax rate sheet.

On a home assessed at $1,000,000, that is $3,283.73 a year in Burnaby and $4,793.12 in New Westminster, before the home owner grant and before water, sewer and garbage charges. The difference is $1,509.39 a year. Your bill depends on both the rate and the assessed value, so a New Westminster townhome assessed lower than a Burnaby half duplex can still pay less tax in total.

Electricity is the other difference. In New Westminster, the City runs its own electrical utility. You open your account with the City, residential bills come every two months, and power outages are reported to the City at 604-239-6100, according to its electrical utility page. Burnaby homes get power from BC Hydro.

Property transfer tax is set by the Province of BC, with the same rates in both cities. On the New Westminster median of $999,888 it comes to $17,997.76 before any exemption, and on the Burnaby townhome median of $1,369,900 it is $25,398.

Benchmark prices from Greater Vancouver REALTORS

Greater Vancouver REALTORS (GVR) publishes benchmark prices for detached houses, townhouses and apartments of any age. It has no benchmark for half duplexes or other multiplex homes, and its townhouse figures leave out duplexes. Its September 2026 statistics package shows:

• Detached houses: Burnaby East $1,694,900, Burnaby North $1,808,500, Burnaby South $1,894,600, New Westminster $1,356,900.
• Townhouses: Burnaby East $857,900, Burnaby North $880,400, Burnaby South $942,100, New Westminster $854,200.

Over the year to September 2026, all eight of these benchmarks fell. New Westminster's detached benchmark fell 10.4% and its townhouse benchmark fell 6.8%. Burnaby East's townhouse benchmark fell 1.7%, the smallest drop of the eight. These describe typical homes of all ages, so use the asking prices above for new homes.

Who each city suits

Burnaby suits you if: - You want a new half duplex, or a home with a legal suite for a parent or for rent. - Your budget is $1.5 million or more, and you want to choose from dozens of homes. - You want the Millennium Line, or the shortest train ride downtown from Patterson or Metrotown.

New Westminster suits you if: - You want a new townhome near Royal Columbian Hospital, Queen's Park or the river. - You want a short walk to the Expo Line: the Keary Street and Cunningham Street homes were 562 and 801 metres from a station. - You may qualify for the newly built home exemption or the first-time buyers' GST rebate, since 5 of the 7 homes asked $1,100,000 or less.

In our view, a family pooling money across two generations who wants two homes on one lot should start in Burnaby, because that is where the half duplexes are. A first-time buyer with a budget near $1 million should look at both lists: on October 8, New Westminster had 4 new homes at $1 million or less and Burnaby had 7.

What this comes down to

• On October 8, 2026, our copy of the MLS® feed listed 130 new homes in Burnaby (median $1,648,000) and 7 in New Westminster (median $999,888), counting only homes built in 2025 or later.
• Burnaby had 83 new half duplexes. New Westminster had none: all 7 of its new homes were townhomes, from $849,900 to $1,299,000.
• At $1,299,000 or less, Burnaby had 19 new homes and New Westminster 7, at a median of $722 and $727 per square foot.
• Burnaby has 11 SkyTrain stations on two lines. New Westminster has 5, all on the Expo Line, and Queensborough has none.
• Burnaby's 2026 residential tax rate is $3.28373 per $1,000 of assessed value. New Westminster's is $4.79312.

Frequently asked questions

Is it better to buy in Burnaby or New Westminster?

It depends on what you want to buy and where you want to live. Burnaby had 83 new half duplexes on October 8, 2026, and New Westminster had none. New Westminster's 7 new townhomes, from $849,900 to $1,299,000, suit buyers who want to live near Royal Columbian Hospital, Queen's Park or the river.

Is New Westminster cheaper than Burnaby?

The middle asking price of a new home was lower in New Westminster on October 8, 2026: $999,888 against $1,648,000 in Burnaby, whose list includes its half duplexes. At $1,299,000 or less, price per square foot was close: a median of $727 in New Westminster and $722 in Burnaby.

Are there new duplexes for sale in New Westminster?

On October 8, 2026, our copy of the MLS® feed showed none. All 7 new homes for sale in New Westminster were filed as townhomes. Our copy counts new homes built in 2025 or later. New listings appear every week, so ask us to check again before you decide.

How many SkyTrain stations does each city have?

Burnaby has 11, on the Expo Line and the Millennium Line, according to the City of Burnaby's station data. New Westminster has 5, all on the Expo Line: 22nd Street, New Westminster, Columbia, Sapperton and Braid. Queensborough, in New Westminster, has no station.

How long is the SkyTrain ride downtown from each city?

On TransLink's October 2026 weekday schedule, trains leaving between 7 and 9 a.m. reach Waterfront Station in 17 to 24 minutes from Patterson, Metrotown, Royal Oak and Edmonds in Burnaby. From New Westminster's five stations, the ride takes 26 to 37 minutes. Brentwood riders change trains at Commercial-Broadway.

Is property tax higher in New Westminster than in Burnaby?

The 2026 rate is higher. New Westminster charges $4.79312 per $1,000 of assessed value for homes, and Burnaby charges $3.28373. On a $1,000,000 assessment that is $4,793.12 against $3,283.73, before the home owner grant. Your bill also depends on your home's assessed value.

Which school district is better, Burnaby or New Westminster?

The two districts are organised differently. Burnaby School District 41 runs 41 elementary and 8 secondary schools. New Westminster School District 40 runs 8 elementary schools, 3 middle schools and one main secondary school. New Westminster's district reports that its schools are over capacity. Check the catchment school for your exact address.

How much down payment do I need in each city?

The New Westminster median of $999,888 needs at least $74,988.80. The Burnaby townhome median of $1,369,900 needs $111,990. The Burnaby half duplex median of $1,799,000 needs 20%, or $359,800, because it is $1.5 million or more.

Can I get the newly built home exemption in New Westminster or Burnaby?

The Province's exemption from property transfer tax applies in both cities. It is full on a new home with a fair market value of $1,100,000 or less and partial up to $1,150,000. At asking price on October 8, 2026, 5 New Westminster homes and 10 Burnaby homes were at or under $1,100,000.

Does Queensborough have SkyTrain?

No station sits in Queensborough. The three Queensborough listings on October 8, 2026 were 2.1 to 2.9 km on foot from 22nd Street Station, on OpenStreetMap walking routes. TransLink Routes 104, 340, 410 and 418 run between Queensborough and 22nd Street Station.

Browse the new homes for sale, save the ones that fit, then talk to our team. Tell us your budget, your commute and who is moving in, and we will line up the homes in Burnaby and New Westminster that match.