What Drives the Price | Size for Your Money
How much space your money buys, city by city
The clearest way to see what a shorter commute costs. Same product type, same two year build window, ordered by how big the homes actually are.
The short answer
Delta has the largest newly built ground-oriented homes in the region at a median of 2,390 sq ft. Surrey's median home is 444 sq ft larger than Vancouver's and $648,100 cheaper, on the same product type built in the same two year window. That trade is the clearest thing in this entire dataset.
- Largest median home
- 2,390 sq ft
- In
- Delta
- Regional median
- 1,618 sq ft
- Cities measured
- 18
Median home size, largest first
The note beside each bar is the median list price in that city, so you can read size and price together rather than one at a time.
- Delta $1,349,000 2,390 sq ft
- Pitt Meadows $1,224,900 2,206 sq ft
- Burnaby $1,599,999 2,196 sq ft
- Surrey $1,049,900 1,986 sq ft
- Abbotsford $849,450 1,869 sq ft
- Squamish $1,493,500 1,819 sq ft
- Mission $789,000 1,798 sq ft
- Langley $968,000 1,685 sq ft
- Port Coquitlam $1,199,450 1,683 sq ft
- Chilliwack $689,900 1,660 sq ft
- Maple Ridge $884,900 1,599 sq ft
- North Vancouver $1,469,900 1,576 sq ft
- Vancouver $1,698,000 1,542 sq ft
- Coquitlam $1,198,900 1,520 sq ft
- Richmond $1,353,000 1,417 sq ft
- Pemberton $1,099,000 1,400 sq ft
- New Westminster $964,894 1,395 sq ft
- Port Moody $1,199,900 1,394 sq ft
The trade, at its starkest
| Vancouver | Surrey | |
|---|---|---|
| Active listings | 547 | 164 |
| Median list price | $1,698,000 | $1,049,900 |
| Median size | 1,542 sq ft | 1,986 sq ft |
| Median per sq ft | $1,111 | $550 |
| Four bedrooms or more | 152 | 113 |
| Median strata fee | $468 | $314 |
The Surrey home is bigger, cheaper to buy, and cheaper to run every month. Everything it costs you is on a map rather than in a spreadsheet. That is not an argument for either city. It is the shape of the choice.
Every city, ordered by median size
| City | Active | Median price | Per sq ft | Median size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta | 43 | $1,349,000 | $562 | 2,390 |
| Pitt Meadows | 6 | $1,049,450 to $1,299,000 | $501 to $654 | 2,206 |
| Burnaby | 127 | $1,599,999 | $720 | 2,196 |
| Surrey | 164 | $1,049,900 | $550 | 1,986 |
| Abbotsford | 52 | $849,450 | $496 | 1,869 |
| Squamish | 20 | $1,493,500 | $806 | 1,819 |
| Mission | 48 | $789,000 | $430 | 1,798 |
| Langley | 79 | $968,000 | $569 | 1,685 |
| Port Coquitlam | 12 | $1,199,450 | $660 | 1,683 |
| Chilliwack | 19 | $689,900 | $410 | 1,660 |
| Maple Ridge | 14 | $884,900 | $517 | 1,599 |
| North Vancouver | 39 | $1,469,900 | $965 | 1,576 |
| Vancouver | 547 | $1,698,000 | $1,111 | 1,542 |
| Coquitlam | 95 | $1,198,900 | $755 | 1,520 |
| Richmond | 94 | $1,353,000 | $900 | 1,417 |
| Pemberton | 13 | $1,099,000 | $785 | 1,400 |
| New Westminster | 10 | $964,894 | $709 | 1,395 |
| Port Moody | 5 | $1,181,900 to $1,249,900 | $821 to $896 | 1,394 |
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.
Common questions
Which city has the biggest new townhouses in Metro Vancouver?
Delta, at a median of 2,390 sq ft across 43 active listings. Burnaby, Surrey, and Delta all sit well above the regional median of 1,618 sq ft, largely because their newly built stock leans toward half duplexes on rebuilt single family lots rather than townhouses in complexes.
How much more space do you get in Surrey than in Vancouver?
444 sq ft more at the median, for $648,100 less. Surrey's median newly built ground-oriented home is 1,986 sq ft at $1,049,900. Vancouver's is 1,542 sq ft at $1,698,000.
Why are homes in Vancouver smaller?
Because the lots are narrow and expensive. A builder replacing a single family house on a 33 foot Vancouver lot has little width to work with, so the homes go up three storeys with a small floor plate. In the suburbs the lots are wider and the land is cheaper, so the same budget buys floor area instead.
Is bigger better?
Only if you use the space. A 2,300 square foot home costs more to heat, more to furnish, more to clean, and usually carries a higher property tax bill. What the numbers do settle is that the size difference between cities is not small, so it is worth deciding deliberately rather than by default.
How many cities are compared on this page?
18 cities across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, each with at least five active listings of newly built townhouses, half duplexes, or row houses. The regional median across all of them is 1,618 sq ft, and cities are ranked from largest median home size down.
What does the median strata fee look like in Vancouver compared to Surrey?
$468 a month in Vancouver against $314 in Surrey, on top of the size and price gap between the two cities. That fee difference adds to the monthly cost gap beyond just the mortgage payment, and it compounds every month a buyer owns the home rather than being a one-time cost.
Does a bigger home in the suburbs come with more bedrooms too?
Usually, and this data shows the pattern directly. 152 Vancouver listings have four or more bedrooms, against 113 in Surrey, reflecting the wider floor plates that cheaper suburban land allows a builder to use. A narrower Vancouver lot simply has less width to divide into bedrooms.
What is the median price per square foot in Vancouver versus Surrey?
$1,111 in Vancouver against $550 in Surrey. That per square foot gap is what drives the price difference between the two cities even before total home size is factored in, and it reflects the cost of the land under each home rather than the quality of construction.
Where these figures come from
- VanPlex active listings, MLS® data
Active townhouses, half duplexes, and row houses built in the last two years across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
Checked
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.