Multiplex Vancouver: 625 Permits, Now Double New Houses, and Slower to Approve (October 2026)

The City of Vancouver has issued 625 building permits for multiplexes since the first one in 2024, and this year they outnumber permits for new single-family houses two to one: 237 to 119, from January 1 to October 28.

That's the clearest sign yet that the R1-1 zoning Council adopted in September 2023 changed what gets built on a Vancouver lot. But the same permit data shows two things the headlines don't. Multiplex permits are down 9% on the same stretch of 2025, and the median multiplex building permit issued this year took 192 days from the permit number being created to issue, longer than a house (142) and longer than multiplexes took a year ago (168.5).

Below: what the City's permit records say, where multiplexes are going, how long they take, and what detached and townhouse prices mean for anyone thinking of building one or buying a unit in one. The permit numbers come straight from the City's open data, and I've explained exactly how I counted.

Sources: City of Vancouver Open Data, Issued building permits (new-building permits issued to October 28, 2026; EstateBlock analysis); Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, September 2026 stats package.

Multiplexes vs houses, by the permit count

Between 2019 and 2023, the same January-to-late-October window brought 208 to 427 new-house permits a year. In 2026 there have been 119. Multiplexes went from 23 in that window of 2024 to 261 in 2025 and 237 this year. Duplexes have slipped to 135, from 289 in 2022.

Put another way: of the 689 new low-density building permits this year (houses, duplexes, laneways and multiplexes together), 34% were for multiplexes. In 2023, before the first multiplex permit, the same four categories totalled 716.

Source: City of Vancouver Open Data, Issued building permits (new-building permits issued to October 28, 2026; EstateBlock analysis). Multiplex = project description contains "multiplex"; one project can have more than one permit.

Laneway houses are the other number to watch. They're down from 321 to 198 in the same window, a 38% drop. A laneway was the add-a-unit option for an owner keeping the main house; a multiplex is usually a full rebuild. The permit mix suggests the lots that do get redeveloped are going to the bigger option.

Is the multiplex boom slowing?

Permits climbed every quarter through 2025 and peaked at 100 in the last quarter of the year. Then they fell to 66 and 48 before bouncing back to 93 in the third quarter. October alone has 30.

So it's a slowdown, not a stall. With a median of about six months from permit number to issue, permits issued today reflect decisions made many months earlier. The City's own City of Vancouver memo to Mayor and Council on the R1-1 zone, May 29, 2025 counted about 370 multiplex applications accepted from November 2023 to March 31, 2025, covering about 1,500 homes. It hasn't published an updated count that I can find.

That memo is also the best guide to what's in the pipeline. Of those applications, 45% were for four units, 29% for three, 18% for six and 9% for five. 70% used a courtyard layout (separate front and rear buildings), which is why one project often shows up as two permits. Parking averaged 0.83 spaces per unit.

How long a permit takes

The City's data records the number of days between a permit number being created and the permit being issued. It's the closest public measure of approval time, though the clock can include time the applicant spends revising drawings.

The trend runs in opposite directions. Median processing time for a new house fell from 274 days in 2023 to 142 this year, and duplexes from 331 to 115. Multiplexes went the other way: 108.5 days for the first 60 permits in 2024, 168.5 in 2025 and 192 so far in 2026.

Some of that is the mix. The first permits out the door in 2024 may have been the simplest projects. Some of it may be volume: at the late-2025 peak the City was issuing about 33 multiplex permits a month. Either way, if you're planning one, budget at least six months for the building permit alone, and I'd assume longer.

The declared construction value on a multiplex permit has a median of $836K this year, up from $779K in 2024. That figure is per permit, so a two-building project carries two of them, and it's the value the applicant declares, not a final build cost.

Where multiplexes are being built

Hastings-Sunrise leads by a wide margin with 101 permits, followed by Kensington-Cedar Cottage (62) and Kerrisdale (54). The list splits roughly between the east side's big blocks of older houses (Hastings-Sunrise, Kensington-Cedar Cottage, Renfrew-Collingwood, Victoria-Fraserview, Sunset) and the west side's large lots (Kerrisdale, Dunbar-Southlands, Arbutus Ridge, Shaughnessy, West Point Grey).

The City's memo saw the same split in applications: 52% on east-side sites, 38% west and 10% central, with six-unit projects mostly on the west side's 50-foot-plus lots. Some local areas barely appear: Mount Pleasant and South Cambie have 3 each, and Grandview-Woodland has 0.

The land math: detached prices and townhouse prices

A multiplex starts with buying a detached house, so detached prices set the floor. They've fallen. GVR's benchmark detached price in Vancouver East was $1.63M in September, −7.7% in a year and −13.9% over three years. Vancouver West was $2.92M, −8.7% in a year and −16.4% over three. Three years ago is almost exactly when R1-1 was adopted. My read: whatever the new zoning did for development lots, it hasn't been enough to hold up the price of a typical detached house.

Source: Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, September 2026 stats package (MLS® HPI benchmark prices, sales-based).

Source: EstateBlock calculation from Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, September 2026 stats package. The benchmark is a typical house, not a typical development lot; actual lot prices vary widely by size and location.

This is rough, deliberately. A four-unit project on a benchmark-priced East Van house carries about $408K of land per unit before a single stud goes up. The benchmark townhouse in Vancouver East is $980K, down 7.9% in a year. Construction, City charges and financing all have to fit between those two numbers. My read: that's why falling townhouse prices hurt a multiplex project more than cheaper houses help it.

The asking side tells a similar story. On EstateBlock today, Vancouver has 1,326 houses for sale at a median asking price of $2.77M and 76 median days on market, and 509 townhouses at a median $1.40M and 49 days. Townhouses are asking more per square foot than houses, $1,035 vs $982. I'd watch that gap: it's the premium new multi-unit space needs for a multiplex to make sense. These are asking prices of active listings, not sales.

Source: EstateBlock.com Vancouver listings, snapshot taken October 29, 2026 (active listings, asking prices).

If you're shopping for a unit in a multiplex, townhouses are the closest comparison: you can browse Vancouver townhouses for sale on EstateBlock. For the townhouse market in more detail, see my Vancouver townhouse prices breakdown.

What's changing next

The rules are under review again. The City's multiplex page on Shape Your City says staff are reviewing and updating policies and regulations related to multiplexes and other low-density housing options, in response to Council motions passed in 2025 and 2026 and the province's small-scale multi-unit housing legislation (Bill 25). Public engagement is expected to begin in fall 2026 and continue into early 2027, and staff expect to report back to Council in early 2027.

Under the current R1-1 rules, per the City's memo, a lot can hold three to six ownership units (strata tenure) or up to eight secured rental units. The zone covers about 65,000 lots, over half the City's land. Minimum parking requirements were removed citywide in June 2024.

I won't guess what the review will change. If you're buying a lot to build, or selling one to a builder, check the rules in force on the day you apply. For how the province's Bill 44 works lot by lot, see my Bill 44 explainer.

What I'd do

For the wider market, see my Greater Vancouver market update, and for how many homes are actually being started across the region, Vancouver housing starts.