Thinking of Waiting to Buy a New Multiplex in Vancouver? You May Get Fewer Homes to Choose From, Not More (2026)

Ask most people what to watch in Vancouver's multiplex market and they talk about land and prices. Where are the good lots? Are prices going up or down? Those are fair questions. But if you want to buy a home to live in soon, they are not the important ones.

The thing that really matters is easy to miss. It is how few brand-new multiplex homes are actually being finished and offered to buyers. Not how many projects people talk about. Not how many lots get bought and sold. Just how many finished homes a family can walk into and buy.

That number is small. It is smaller than the news about lots of new homes coming makes it sound. And it is smaller than most buyers think when they say they will wait for more certainty before they buy. Here is what the numbers show, and what it means for you.

Very few new homes were put up for sale

In Vancouver, most new homes are sold before they are built. A buyer picks a home, pays a deposit, and waits for it to be finished. This is called buying pre-sale. So the number of new projects put up for sale each month tells you how many finished homes will exist a couple of years later. If you want to know how this works, MultiLiving explains it in its guide to how buying pre-sale works.

In 2025, very few new projects came up for sale. MLA Canada, a company that follows new-home sales in the region, says 2025 had about 60 new projects and fewer than 4,800 homes offered across Metro Vancouver. That was one of the lowest counts in more than ten years. Only about 30% of those homes sold.

The wider market was the same. Zonda, a data company, with numbers checked by the firm Rennie and reported by Business in Vancouver, counted 5,822 new-home sales in buildings with more than one home in Metro Vancouver in 2025. That is the fewest since at least 2012. The ten-year average is about 15,000 a year.

Early 2026 was even slower. In the first three months of 2026, no new concrete condo projects came up for sale in Metro Vancouver. A year earlier there were 152. In February 2026, only 64 homes across three projects came up for sale in the whole Lower Mainland. A normal February has more than 1,100, says MLA Canada. January had 145. March was on track for just 29.

In short: for many months, almost no new homes were being started for sale.

But I keep hearing there are lots of unsold new homes

You may have read a different story in the news. Companies that make new homes are holding finished homes they have not sold. Both things are true, and the difference matters for you.

At the end of 2025, there were about 3,472 brand-new homes that were finished but still unsold across Metro Vancouver. That is close to a record. It sounds like a lot of choice. But nearly all of those homes are concrete condos, mostly in tall towers. That is a very different home from a multiplex, where a family gets its own front door, a bit of outdoor space, and three or four bedrooms.

Multiplex homes (duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes, the homes this site covers) are a newer and much smaller part of the market. They do not have the same group of finished, unsold homes. So the good news about lots of unsold homes is really about a home type that many multiplex buyers were not looking at anyway.

Many new projects are starting, but few are finished

Here is the part that people get wrong. The number of new multiplex projects getting approved has gone up a lot. In the City of Vancouver, 2025 had 643 new multiplex approvals, about 46% more than the year before. For the first time, that was more than the number of single-family house approvals, says VanPlex, a site that follows new multiplex projects.

That is real, and it is why you keep hearing that many new homes are coming. But an approval is not a home you can move into. A multiplex takes a few years to design and build after it is approved. Homes approved in 2025 will mostly be finished in 2026 and 2027, and the bigger numbers come later. Most people who follow this market think the real change comes around 2028 and 2029, not this year. MultiLiving looked at what all those new homes could do to prices in a separate post.

So right now the market is in an in-between spot. Many new projects have been approved, but very few are finished. The small number of multiplex homes being finished this year have almost no other new homes to compete with. In my own work, where I price homes both for families and for what the land is worth, this is easy to see. Lots of land is being bought and sold, but there are very few finished homes for a family to move into.

What waiting for more certainty really means

When a buyer says they want to wait for more certainty, they usually mean one of two things. Either they think prices will drop more, or they think there will be more homes to choose from. On price, waiting is fine right now, and I will explain why below. On choice, waiting may leave you worse off.

Waiting assumes there will be more homes later. For finished multiplex homes, the opposite is more likely over the next year. The homes being finished now were started two or three years ago, when far fewer multiplex projects were going. More choice, if it comes, will be around 2028. And it depends on projects that are only starting now getting finished on time, which is never certain.

So the buyer who waits for more choice in a new multiplex home may find fewer finished homes next spring, not more. And they will be looking for them at the same time as everyone else who also chose to wait.

How to think about this if you are buying now

None of this means you should rush. It means you should see the market clearly. A few things I would keep in mind:

• Know the difference between a finished home and one that is years away. A finished, move-in-ready multiplex home is hard to find right now. A project that just came up for sale will not be ready for a couple of years.
• Do not expect more choice soon. For the next year, the number of finished, ready-to-move-in multiplex homes is more likely to stay small than to grow.
• Lower prices are good, but do not wait forever. Prices have come down a little, which helps you. But low prices and few homes can happen at the same time. Right now they do.
• Get your money ready early. When good finished homes are hard to find, being ready to act fast matters more.
• Talk to someone who knows what is being finished. Listings show what is for sale today. They do not show what will be finished in the next six months. That is where good advice helps.

The good news about prices

To be fair to people who want to wait, prices are helping them right now. The benchmark price (the price of a typical home) for an attached home, meaning townhouses and multiplex-style homes, in Greater Vancouver was $1,046,200 in June 2026. That is about 5% lower than a year earlier, says Greater Vancouver REALTORS. Sales are going up, with attached-home sales up 11.4% from the same month last year, but prices are still slowly falling, not rising. If your only worry is paying too much, waiting is not costing you today.

The problem is that price and choice do not move together. You can wait for a slightly lower price and still find that the exact home you want, three bedrooms, ground floor, near your parents, in the right school area, is not being finished in large numbers yet. The lower price is real. So is the small number of homes. Think about both, not just the one that is easy to see.

The main points

• The thing to watch in Vancouver's multiplex market is not land or price. It is how few finished, ready-to-move-in homes are reaching buyers.
• Very few new homes were put up for sale through 2025 and into early 2026. Some recent months had almost none, and the first three months of 2026 had no new concrete condo projects at all.
• The big group of unsold new homes is mostly concrete condos, not the ground-level multiplex homes many families want. Do not let it fool you into thinking multiplex choice is wide.
• Many more multiplex projects were approved in 2025, but an approval is not a finished home. The real change comes around 2028, not 2026.
• Waiting can make sense for price and still cost you on choice. For finished multiplex homes, there are more likely to be fewer, not more, in the near term.

If you want to know which brand-new multiplex homes will be finished in the next few months, and which are still years away, that is exactly what a good agent can help you see. Look at what is for sale now at multiliving.ca/properties, or tell the MultiLiving team what you want at multiliving.ca/contact and they will point you to the finished and soon-to-finish homes that fit.

Frequently asked questions

What does buying pre-sale mean for a multiplex home?

You pick a home before it is built, pay a deposit, and wait until it is finished to finish the purchase and move in. Most brand-new multiplex and condo homes are sold this way. That is why the number of new projects for sale tells you how many finished homes will exist later.

Why were so few new homes put up for sale in 2025?

Buyers who buy to rent out pulled back, taxes and rules made the numbers harder for the companies that build homes, and new-home prices were falling. With less demand and smaller profit, many projects did not come up for sale. So 2025 had the fewest launches in more than ten years.

Are the many new multiplex homes people talk about really coming?

The number of new multiplex projects getting approved has gone up a lot. But an approval is not a finished home. Building takes years, so the real jump in ready-to-move-in homes is expected around 2028 and 2029, not 2026.

If thousands of new homes are unsold, why is choice small for multiplex buyers?

Those unsold homes are almost all concrete condos in towers. Multiplex homes are a smaller, newer, ground-level type without the same group of unsold homes. The news about lots of unsold homes is mostly about a type many multiplex buyers were not looking at.

Should I wait for prices to drop more before I buy?

On price, waiting is fine right now. The attached-home benchmark was about 5% lower than a year earlier in June 2026. But choice may get smaller soon. So weigh a small possible price saving against the risk of fewer finished homes to pick from.

How long after a project comes up for sale can I move in?

For a multiplex, usually a couple of years between the sale launch and the finish. Always ask about the exact timeline for the home you are looking at. A pre-sale home and a finished home mean very different waits.

What is the difference between a finished multiplex home and a pre-sale one?

A finished home is ready now. You can see it, buy it, and move in on a normal closing date. A pre-sale home is picked now and finished later, so you wait, often two years or more, before you get the keys.

Are multiplex prices going up or down right now?

Down, slowly. The Greater Vancouver attached-home benchmark fell about 5% from a year earlier to $1,046,200 in June 2026, even though attached-home sales rose 11.4% from the same month last year. Lower prices, busier market.

Does a small number of homes mean prices will jump soon?

Not always. Price and the number of homes do not move together. Right now prices are low while the number of finished new homes is small. Few homes does not push prices up on its own when buyers are still careful.

Is now a bad time to buy because so few homes are for sale?

Few launches affect the number of homes two or three years from now, not the home in front of you today. If you need a place to live now and the right finished multiplex home shows up, being hard to find is a reason to act, not a reason to wait.

What should I do if I want a brand-new multiplex in the next year?

Look at homes that are finished or almost finished, get your money ready early, and be ready to act when the right one comes up. Do not count on more homes to choose from in the near term.

Where can I see which multiplex homes will be finished soon?

Public listings show what is for sale today, not what will be finished in the next six months. A list of what is being finished is more useful. Tell us what you need and we will match you with finished and soon-to-finish homes.

Does this apply to Burnaby and other cities, or just Vancouver?

It applies across the region. The slow launches and the gap between approval and finish show up all over the Lower Mainland, including Burnaby, Coquitlam, and the rest of Metro Vancouver, not just the City of Vancouver.

Why do approvals go up while finished homes stay few?

Because building takes time. A home approved today is designed and built over the next few years. A jump in approvals shows up as finished, ready-to-move-in homes two to three years later, not in the same year.

What is the single most important number to watch?

The number of finished, ready-to-move-in multiplex homes actually reaching buyers, not land sales or price headlines. That number is small today and is unlikely to grow much before the bigger set of new homes arrives around 2028.

About the author

Greyden Douglas is a Vancouver REALTOR® and the founder of Rain City Properties, with Oakwyn Realty Ltd. He has been licensed since 2006 and is a Medallion Club member, the top 10% of Vancouver realtors. He works across Metro Vancouver, helping people who are downsizing, selling a family home, or selling land for new homes. Because he prices homes both for families and for what the land is worth, he watches the gap between land sales and finished homes closely. This is a guest post for MultiLiving. You can read more of his market notes at raincityproperties.com.