David Babakaiff
Written by David Babakaiff — Co-Founder, VanPlex | 25+ Years BC Construction

Start Here | Cheapest Areas

The cheapest places to buy a new ground-oriented home

Every neighbourhood priced below the regional median per square foot, measured from listings on the market now. What each one costs you in exchange is stated rather than skipped over.

The short answer

47 neighbourhoods price below the regional median of $824 per square foot, carrying 576 active listings between them. The lowest is Lower Landing in Chilliwack at $395, where the median home is 1,587 sq ft and lists at $637,400.

Areas below the median
47
Regional median
$824
Lowest per sq ft
$395
Listings in them
576

Cities priced below the regional median

Ordered cheapest first. Every city here prices under $824 per square foot, which is the median across the whole active set.

  • Chilliwack 18 listings $410
  • Mission 42 listings $415
  • White Rock 4 listings $473
  • Abbotsford 55 listings $506
  • Maple Ridge 22 listings $516
  • Surrey 175 listings $555
  • Langley 92 listings $570
  • Pitt Meadows 6 listings $581
  • Delta 41 listings $589
  • Port Coquitlam 10 listings $690
  • New Westminster 10 listings $709
  • Burnaby 118 listings $737
  • Coquitlam 86 listings $769
  • Pemberton 15 listings $785

Every neighbourhood below the regional median

Cheapest first. Areas with fewer than four active listings are left out, because at that sample one home moves the figure enough to mislead.

Median price per square foot below the regional median. Median size in square feet.
Neighbourhood City Active Median price Per sq ft Median size Townhouse / half duplex
Lower Landing Chilliwack 6 $607,400 to $767,400 $376 to $408 1,587 5 / 1
Chilliwack Proper East Chilliwack 5 $679,360 to $687,900 $393 to $424 1,660 4 / 1
Mission Mission 42 $837,400 $415 1,881 21 / 20
Bolivar Heights Surrey 11 $1,394,000 $460 2,770 0 / 11
Cedar Hills Surrey 7 $1,074,900 to $1,499,000 $433 to $499 2,314 0 / 7
Abbotsford West Abbotsford 12 $729,900 $493 1,580 12 / 0
Central Abbotsford Abbotsford 21 $749,900 $502 1,522 16 / 5
Abbotsford East Abbotsford 21 $959,900 $508 2,000 7 / 13
Queen Mary Park Surrey 11 $909,000 $512 1,784 9 / 2
Sullivan Station Surrey 22 $879,900 $520 1,894 18 / 4
Fraser Heights Surrey 11 $999,999 $524 1,969 8 / 3
Pacific Douglas Surrey 7 $1,085,400 to $1,429,999 $470 to $610 2,489 2 / 5
Annieville Delta 7 $1,270,999 to $1,311,540 $511 to $587 2,390 0 / 7
Fleetwood Tynehead Surrey 15 $1,049,900 $550 1,911 11 / 4
Scottsdale Delta 8 $1,324,450 $554 2,352 0 / 8
Albion Maple Ridge 9 $759,900 $558 1,445 9 / 0
Langley City Langley 5 $763,900 to $1,277,999 $479 to $710 1,364 4 / 0
Cloverdale Surrey 16 $939,450 $567 1,664 9 / 7
Willoughby Heights Langley 83 $999,800 $570 1,702 59 / 17
Whalley Surrey 4 $772,400 to $911,830 $570 to $611 1,475 4 / 0
South Meadows Pitt Meadows 6 $1,049,450 to $1,299,000 $501 to $654 2,206 3 / 3
Upper Deer Lake Burnaby 5 $1,826,800 to $2,498,000 $585 to $698 3,582 0 / 5
Clayton Surrey 4 $801,900 to $961,900 $582 to $618 1,478 4 / 0
Forest Glen Burnaby 13 $1,750,000 $611 2,703 2 / 11
Grandview Heights Surrey 41 $1,039,888 $614 1,688 25 / 16
Ladner Elementary Delta 4 $1,290,940 to $1,465,940 $599 to $721 2,168 2 / 1
South Slope Burnaby 4 $1,674,000 to $2,156,000 $606 to $765 2,769 0 / 4
East Newton Surrey 7 $762,800 to $1,129,000 $586 to $658 1,415 5 / 2
East Burnaby Burnaby 10 $1,799,944 $663 2,665 0 / 10
Central Port Coquitlam Port Coquitlam 5 $953,900 to $1,075,900 $593 to $678 1,507 5 / 0
Burnaby North Central Burnaby 7 $1,378,000 to $1,448,400 $629 to $1,013 2,151 0 / 7
Burke Mountain Coquitlam 29 $1,099,900 $688 1,582 28 / 1
Suncrest Burnaby 4 $1,195,000 to $1,895,000 $549 to $834 2,412 0 / 4
Scott Creek Coquitlam 5 $949,900 to $1,041,860 $675 to $756 1,362 5 / 0
Boundary Beach Delta 4 $1,031,270 to $1,234,900 $656 to $734 1,682 2 / 2
Queensborough New Westminster 6 $899,894 to $1,097,400 $688 to $732 1,395 6 / 0
Edmonds Burnaby 4 $840,700 to $1,322,000 $643 to $763 1,523 3 / 1
Hawthorne Delta 4 $1,447,699 to $1,590,969 $621 to $857 1,961 0 / 4
Westridge Burnaby 5 $1,575,999 to $2,828,000 $628 to $860 2,249 0 / 5
Bridgeport RI Richmond 4 $1,149,330 to $1,569,000 $730 to $774 1,959 4 / 0
Hamilton Richmond 22 $992,000 $768 1,289 22 / 0
Pemberton Pemberton 15 $1,099,000 $785 1,400 1 / 5
Willingdon Heights Burnaby 7 $1,278,800 to $1,599,000 $786 to $946 2,010 2 / 5
Maillardville Coquitlam 16 $1,284,000 $798 1,577 2 / 14
Highgate Burnaby 9 $1,398,000 $805 1,579 3 / 6
Central Coquitlam Coquitlam 5 $1,198,000 to $1,258,400 $753 to $831 1,535 0 / 5
Metrotown Burnaby 8 $1,494,444 $820 1,788 6 / 2

A dash means fewer than four active listings, which is too few to publish a figure for. Rows with four to seven listings show a range instead of a median.

What the low price is actually buying

It is not a lower standard of construction. Every home in this set was finished within the last two years, under the same provincial building code, with the same warranty framework, using the same trades and suppliers as a home twice the price.

It is not less space either. In several of these areas the median home is larger than the regional median of 1,586 sq ft, because cheaper land lets a builder spread out rather than build up.

What it is buying is distance. That is the honest summary, and it is worth testing rather than assuming. Open a map, put in the address and your workplace, and check the travel time at the hour you actually leave. If the answer works, the saving is real money. If it does not, no price per square foot makes up for it.

Every area below the regional median, mapped

The single most useful thing on this page. The saving is real, and so is the distance, and a map settles the second question far faster than a table does.

300 of 576 homes plotted. 191 more have coordinates but were left off to keep the map readable. The ones shown are spread evenly across the price range rather than taken from one end. 85 listings have no coordinates in the feed and cannot be placed. Click a pin for the photo, the price, and a Street View link. Zoom with the plus and minus buttons or by pinching.

Homes in the lowest-priced areas

101 more active listings are not shown here. Search every active listing . Prices are the list price. Most new homes have GST added on top.

Common questions

Where is the cheapest place to buy a new townhouse in the Vancouver area?

Measured by price per square foot, Lower Landing in Chilliwack at $395. Chilliwack, Mission, Abbotsford, and Hope hold the lowest figures overall. Inside Metro Vancouver proper, the lowest rates are in the eastern suburbs rather than anywhere in Vancouver itself.

Are cheaper areas cheaper because the homes are smaller?

No, and often the opposite. Several of the cheapest areas have median homes larger than the regional median of 1,586 sq ft. Land is what varies, not the building. Where land is cheap the builder has room to spread out, so the homes tend to be bigger.

What is the catch with the cheapest neighbourhoods?

Distance, and the transit that comes with it. Almost every area below the regional median is a long drive from the downtown core with no rapid transit connection. If you drive to work anyway, that costs you very little. If you do not, it costs you a great deal.

Do cheaper areas hold their value?

This page measures list prices on the market today, so it cannot answer a question about future value, and any page that claims to is guessing. What the data does show is that these markets are thinner, with fewer active listings per neighbourhood, which usually means slower sales in both directions.

Is a cheaper area a good idea for a first home?

It puts a brand new home with warranty within reach on a smaller budget, and it keeps you comfortably inside both property transfer tax exemption thresholds. Whether it is right depends almost entirely on where you need to be during the week.

Where these figures come from

See the homes behind these numbers

Every figure on this page comes from listings you can open. Search the full set of newly built townhouses, half duplexes, and row houses, and filter by price, bedrooms, freehold or strata, pets, and parking.