Source: The Vancouver Sun

In Coquitlam’s Burke Mountain neighbourhood, the developer of 35 townhouses has begun selling at a time when not many projects are coming to market.

Demand Shifting to Ground-Oriented Living

Wesbild says the project, near to forested trails and a site for a future elementary school, is nearing completion and its first homes could be ready for occupancy in the fall.

According to the developer, the units are coming onto the market at an opportune time, as homebuyers pivot away from small condos in tall towers built for investors.

“The market has shifted to an end-user market and that’s why our townhome project is receiving so much attention,” said Lilian Arishenkoff, senior vice-president of development at Wesbild.

First-time buyers, young families and retired people are increasingly preferring ground-oriented living and looking for options that are in the same sales or rental price range as condos, but offer more outdoor space, a front door and a garage, she said. The units at Towns at Burke will be 1,400- to 1,600 square feet with three-bedroom layouts.

“They may be smaller than a big, 5,000-sq.-ft. single-family home, but starting prices are around $999,000 up to $1.2 million max, so it’s within that range where the new GST rebate is applicable,” said Arishenkoff.

Townhomes are the Preferred Choice

Rennie Intelligence published a report in May called Homes of Tomorrow, which commissioned the Angus Reid Group to survey and analyze lifestyle choices, preferences and daily habits of 1,400 renters, past buyers and future buyers in Metro Vancouver, Greater Victoria and the Central Okanagan.

“The demand for ground-oriented living remains a powerful force in the market, with over half of all end-user buyers identifying townhomes as their preferred choice,” said the report.

The shift comes as developers are stuck with more completed, but unsold, condo units than ever and trying to figure out what next steps to take.

Unabsorbed Apartment Units at an All-Time High

Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser University’s City program, looked at figures from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s market absorption survey, which annually tracks unabsorbed housing inventory, ones that have been completed but not sold.

The number of unabsorbed apartment units currently in the market is at an all-time high, while there is a significantly lower number of unabsorbed semi-detached and row units, which are essentially townhouses.

In Metro Vancouver, the number of unabsorbed apartment units in May 2026 was 4,376, while there were 515 unabsorbed semi-detached units and 861 unattached row houses.

Upfield Capital, a Vancouver real estate investment and asset management company, has been pivoting to a market niche of townhouse rentals.

“This is new for sure. It’s been on our mind for the last year,” said Rob Greer, co-founder of Upfield. He said for years there was a massive push for investors and developers to build rental condo units and municipalities were giving extra density to promote purpose-built rental condo projects, but now there is an oversupply.

His company is on the lookout for rental townhouse projects that are in the suburbs or outskirts where land costs are cheaper than in city centres.

“These aren’t transitional rental units,” said Greer, explaining that townhouses are more attractive to young families because they offer more space and are typically within walking distance of grocery stores and schools.

Rental Townhouse Projects

Upfield recently worked with Arrowleaf Real Estate and bought Cornerstone at Uplands, a 181-unit, purpose-built, rental townhouse project under construction in Edmonton. The first occupants moved in in June and later phases of tenants will move in over the next 12 months.

In the next 12 to 24 months, Upfield is looking to acquire and rent out 2,000 townhouse units by buying more existing rental townhouse communities in Alberta and B.C. or by teaming up with developers to have them build the rental townhouses “and then we can acquire them and rent them out at completion.”

“It sounds stupid, but people love just walking off the street into their unit, not having to go into an elevator and go up to their unit on the 20th floor,” said Greer.