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

What Your Budget Buys | $800k

What $800,000 buys you

The $700,000 to $900,000 band is where a newly built home stops being a compromise on size and starts being a compromise on distance. Here is what is in it right now.

The short answer

177 active newly built ground-oriented homes list between $700,000 and $900,000, about 12.7% of the market. The median is $838,000 for 1,417 sq ft at $592 per square foot. 38 of them have four or more bedrooms, which is what makes this band work for families.

Active listings
177
Median size
1,417 sq ft
Median per sq ft
$592
Four bedrooms or more
38

Newly built homes listed between $700,000 and $900,000

177 active listings

Median list price
$838,000

typical range $729,900 to $899,355

Median price per sq ft
$592

typical range $449 to $834

Median size
1,417 sq ft

typical range 1,034 sq ft to 1,766 sq ft

Median strata fee
$296

typical range $215 to $400

157 of 177 listings state one

Median annual property tax
$3,206

typical range $2,053 to $4,061

57 of 177 listings state one

Measured across 177 active listings on .

What is actually in this band

Where these homes are

  • Surrey 61 (34%)
  • Abbotsford 27 (15%)
  • Langley 20 (11%)
  • Mission 16 (9%)
  • Maple Ridge 13 (7%)
  • Vancouver 13 (7%)
  • Coquitlam 8 (5%)
  • Richmond 5 (3%)

A further 14 listings sit in 8 other cities.

The neighbourhoods with the most of them

  • Willoughby Heights, Langley 17
  • Mission, Mission 16
  • Sullivan Station, Surrey 16
  • Grandview Heights, Surrey 11
  • Abbotsford West, Abbotsford 10
  • Albion, Maple Ridge 8
  • Central Abbotsford, Abbotsford 8
  • Cloverdale, Surrey 8

Areas with three or more listings in this band.

How many bedrooms your money gets

  • 1 bedroom 6 (3%)
  • 2 bedrooms 24 (14%)
  • 3 bedrooms 109 (62%)
  • 4 bedrooms 38 (21%)

Median size

1,417 sq ft

Median per sq ft

$592

Median list price

$838,000

Type

166 townhouses, 10 half duplexes , 1 row houses

Ownership

166 strata, 9 freehold with no strata , 2 not stated

The trade this band asks you to make

At this price you are not buying a smaller home. The median here is 1,417 sq ft, which is at or above the regional median of 1,586 sq ft. What you are buying is a home further out. The land under it costs $592 per square foot against a regional median of $824.

That is the whole trade, and it is worth being clear-eyed about it. The building is the same standard, built to the same code, in the same two year window. The difference between this band and the $1.5M band is almost entirely a map, not a specification.

The second thing this band gets you is bedroom count. 21% of these homes have four or more bedrooms. In the expensive neighbourhoods that share collapses, because the land forces builders to go up rather than out and the floor plates get smaller.

Is this band right for you

Works well if

  • ✓ A family that needs four bedrooms and cannot get them closer in at this price
  • ✓ Buyers who drive rather than take transit to work
  • ✓ First homes where the priority is owning something new with a warranty
  • ✓ Anyone who wants the full newly built home tax exemption without stretching

Does not work if

  • ✕ You need to be within walking distance of SkyTrain
  • ✕ A downtown commute is part of your week
  • ✕ You want the shortest possible resale timeline, since outer markets move more slowly

Check before you offer

  • → Whether GST is on top of the list price, which on $800,000 is $40,000
  • → The strata fee, which varies far more inside this band than the price does
  • → How many parking spaces come with the home, not the complex
  • → The commute at your real departure time, not the map estimate

Where $800,000 reaches

The band is not a compromise on size, it is a compromise on distance. Here is exactly how much distance.

145 of 177 homes plotted. 32 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 listed between $700,000 and $900,000

153 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

What can you buy for $800,000 in Metro Vancouver?

A newly built townhouse or half duplex of about 1,417 sq ft, in the Fraser Valley or the outer suburbs. Abbotsford, Mission, Surrey, Maple Ridge, and Langley carry most of the inventory at this price. Vancouver and Burnaby have almost none.

How many bedrooms does $800,000 get you?

More than most buyers expect. 38 of the 177 homes in this band have four or more bedrooms. Because the land is cheaper here, builders put the money into floor area instead, so the homes are physically larger than a Vancouver home costing twice as much.

Do I still get the newly built home tax exemption at $800,000?

Yes. The full newly built home exemption from property transfer tax applies up to $1,100,000, so the whole band clears it. You have to occupy the home as your principal residence within 92 days and stay a year.

What is the minimum down payment on an $800,000 home?

$55,000. That is 5% of the first $500,000 plus 10% of the remaining $300,000. Below 20% down you also pay mortgage default insurance, which is added to the loan rather than paid up front.

Is $800,000 enough for a first-time buyer in this region?

It buys a real, new, ground-oriented family home, which $800,000 does not do in Vancouver. The catch is location. Note also that the first-time buyer PTT exemption tops out at $835,000, so above that you rely on the newly built home exemption instead, which every home here qualifies for anyway.

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.

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