What Drives the Price | Townhouse vs Half Duplex
Townhouse or half duplex: which costs more
Most buyers assume the half duplex is the cheaper option. In this market it is the more expensive one, and the reason has almost nothing to do with the building.
The short answer
Across the region the median newly built half duplex lists at $1,586,500 and the median townhouse at $1,109,000, a gap of $477,500. Per square foot the half duplex is $876 against $787. The gap is mostly about where each type gets built, not about the type itself.
- Median townhouse
- $1,109,000
- Median half duplex
- $1,586,500
- Townhouse per sq ft
- $787
- Half duplex per sq ft
- $876
The two products side by side
| Townhouse | Half duplex | |
|---|---|---|
| Active listings | 721 | 670 |
| Median list price | $1,109,000 | $1,586,500 |
| Median per sq ft | $787 | $876 |
| Median size | 1,472 sq ft | 1,895 sq ft |
| Median strata fee | $370 (611 of 721 state one) | $365 (43 of 670 state one) |
| Freehold, no strata | 32 of 721 | 194 of 670 |
| Four bedrooms or more | 185 | 403 |
| What you are usually buying | A unit in a complex, with shared grounds, a management company, and a monthly fee | One half of a rebuilt single family house, often in a strata of two owners |
Measured across 1,412 active listings on .
Why the half duplex costs more
A half duplex gets built by buying a single family house on an established residential street, knocking it down, and putting two homes where one stood. That means the land underneath was priced as a single family lot in a neighbourhood people already wanted.
A townhouse complex gets built on a larger assembled site, more often on an arterial road, in a town centre, or on land rezoned specifically for density. The land cost gets divided across a lot more units.
So the price gap of $477,500 between the two medians, and the $89 gap per square foot, is really a statement about which streets each product type ends up on. It is not a claim that one is a better home than the other.
The practical consequence is that comparing the two on price alone tells you little. Compare them inside one neighbourhood, where the land is the same, and the difference shrinks to what it should be about: whether you want a complex with amenities and a real strata, or half a house with one neighbour and a much smaller fee.
The gap, city by city
Only cities with at least four active listings of each type. The last column is the median half duplex price in that city, so you can read the gap directly against the townhouse figures beside it.
| City | Active | Median price | Per sq ft | Median size | Median half duplex |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | 205 | $1,495,141 | $1,135 | 1,329 | $1,798,000 |
| Surrey | 86 | $894,450 | $575 | 1,525 | $1,349,939 |
| Burnaby | 41 | $1,299,000 | $782 | 1,800 | $1,799,000 |
| Richmond | 77 | $1,278,000 | $908 | 1,352 | $1,699,000 |
| Coquitlam | 74 | $1,114,450 | $752 | 1,455 | $1,270,000 |
| Langley | 57 | $919,900 | $594 | 1,501 | $1,200,000 |
| Abbotsford | 29 | $729,900 | $501 | 1,574 | $1,059,000 |
| North Vancouver | 33 | $1,436,000 | $952 | 1,575 | $1,949,900 |
| Mission | 31 | $709,000 | $462 | 1,516 | $975,000 |
| Delta | 8 | $1,199,450 | $693 | 1,794 | $1,397,700 |
| Chilliwack | 15 | $689,900 | $410 | 1,660 | $974,450 |
| Port Coquitlam | 5 | $943,900 to $1,087,900 | $599 to $693 | 1,488 | $1,250,000 |
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
Is a half duplex cheaper than a townhouse?
Not in this market. The median newly built half duplex lists at $1,586,500 against $1,109,000 for a townhouse, measured across 670 and 721 active listings. The reason is location: half duplexes are built by replacing single family houses on established residential streets, which are usually the more expensive land.
Which one gives you more space for your money?
Per square foot the townhouse is the cheaper product at $787 against $876. Median sizes are close, at 1,472 sq ft for townhouses and 1,895 sq ft for half duplexes, so most of that difference is land cost rather than floor area.
Do half duplexes have strata fees?
Usually yes, but a small one. 194 of the 670 active half duplexes are freehold with no strata at all, and the rest sit in a strata of typically two owners. That is a completely different arrangement from a townhouse complex with shared amenities, a management company, and a contingency reserve fund.
Which holds value better?
This page measures list prices on the market today. It cannot tell you what will happen to resale value, and any page that claims to know is guessing. What it can tell you is that half duplexes are concentrated in established neighbourhoods with long price histories, while newer townhouse complexes are often in areas that have changed a great deal recently.
What about row houses?
They are a small part of the market, with 21 active listings against 721 townhouses and 670 half duplexes. A row house sold as non-strata is freehold, which means you own the land under your unit outright and there is no monthly strata fee.
How many townhouses and half duplexes are freehold with no strata?
32 of the 721 active townhouses are freehold with no strata, against 194 of the 670 active half duplexes. A freehold home carries no monthly strata fee and no shared decision-making with other owners over major repairs, unlike a strata property where those decisions go to a vote.
Which product type has more four-bedroom homes?
185 townhouses have four or more bedrooms against 403 half duplexes. That reflects the layouts each product type is usually built with rather than a fixed rule about either one, since both are built to whatever floor plan the site allows.
Does the price gap between townhouses and half duplexes hold in every city?
The gap varies by city, because it depends on which streets each product type is built on there. This page publishes the comparison only for cities with at least four active listings of each type, and lists the median half duplex price beside the townhouse figures for each one.
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.
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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.