A new 3-bedroom home in a Vancouver multiplex asks a median $1,498,000. A new 3-bedroom condo asks a median $1,899,900, for less floor space. That is what the City of Vancouver listings showed on November 5, 2026. I’m Morgan Browne, a REALTOR® with The Donum Group at Oakwyn Realty, and these are the numbers I’d want in front of me if I were choosing between the two.
For a family that needs 3 bedrooms, the multiplex home usually gives more space per dollar and a lower strata fee. For a first-time buyer with $1 million or less to spend, the condo is usually the only new home in range, and it comes with tax help that most multiplex homes are priced out of.
What the listings show this week
VanPlex counted every active MLS® listing in the City of Vancouver built in 2024 or later, on November 5, 2026 at 3:22 PM PT. “Multiplex home” here means a half duplex or townhouse listing in a development of 3 to 6 homes. There were 179 of them. “Condo” means an apartment listing, and there were 246.
Per square foot, the multiplex home asks less: a median $1,066 against $1,305 for a new condo. In total price it asks more, because it’s bigger. The median new multiplex home is 1,575 square feet with 3 bedrooms. The median new condo is 807 square feet with 2.
These are asking prices, so treat them as a starting point. A home can sell above or below what it asks.
Same 3 bedrooms, two different homes
Comparing all condos with all multiplex homes mixes studios with family homes, so here are the 3-bedroom homes on their own.
| New 3-bedroom home, City of Vancouver | Multiplex home | Condo |
|---|---|---|
| Listings | 109 | 36 |
| Median asking price | $1,498,000 | $1,899,900 |
| Median floor area | 1,487 sq ft | 1,278 sq ft |
| Median asking price per sq ft | $1,064 | $1,490 |
| Median monthly strata fee (listings that show one) | $380.27 (47 listings) | $752.98 (35 listings) |
| Lowest asking price | $888,000 | $854,900 |
Only 36 new 3-bedroom condos were for sale, a small group, so read that median with care. Still, the gap is $401,900 on the median price, and the multiplex home has 209 more square feet. For a family, I think that gap decides most cases before we even talk about having a front door at street level.
The condo side has its own reasons. 116 of the 246 new condo listings name an exercise centre among the building’s amenities, and 90 name a concierge. None of the 179 multiplex listings names either. The bigger difference is location. In Downtown and the West End there were 57 new condos for sale and 3 new multiplex homes. If you want to walk to work downtown, the multiplex list is short.
Strata fees: often a blank on the multiplex listing
Of the 179 new multiplex homes, 107 showed no monthly strata fee at all: the field was $0 or empty. Only 17 of the 246 condos did that. When a multiplex listing does show a fee, the median is $403.70 a month, or $0.26 per square foot. The new condo median is $509.75, or $0.62 per square foot.
A home with a blank fee still costs money to run. Somebody pays for insurance on the building, and the roof will need money one day. In a new BC strata, the developer must give each buyer an interim budget before they sign, and owners start paying their share from the month after the first sale. Our post on first-year strata fees has the rules. My advice: ask for that budget on the first showing, and read the insurance line.
Size of the strata matters too. A strata with 4 or fewer lots doesn’t need a depreciation report, the study of what the building will need to repair or replace, and when. Add a fifth lot and it does, every 5 years. That’s in the Strata Property Regulation, and VanPlex has a page on the rules that change with strata size. In a fourplex, there are only four owners to share the work of running the strata. Some buyers like having that say. Others would rather leave it to a large building and its manager.
One more thing to check. 10 of the 179 multiplex listings were marked “Freehold NonStrata”. Before you write an offer on one of those, ask what you are buying: your own strata lot with its own title, or a share of one title with other owners. This post on strata lots and shares explains how the two differ when you sell later.
Where the condo wins: $1 million and the tax help
Two programs help buyers of new homes, and both stop at a price.
The federal first-time home buyers’ GST rebate returns up to 100% of the GST on a new home valued at $1 million or less, to a maximum of $50,000. Between $1 million and $1.5 million it gets smaller, and at $1.5 million there is none. The Canada Revenue Agency’s page lists the conditions: you must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, at least 18, not have lived in a home you or your spouse owned in that year or the 4 calendar years before, and have signed with the builder on or after March 20, 2025.
| Price of the new home | Most the first-time buyer GST rebate can return |
|---|---|
| $1,000,000 or less | $50,000 |
| $1,250,000 | $25,000 (CRA’s own example) |
| $1,498,000 (median new 3-bedroom multiplex home) | $200 (our arithmetic on CRA’s scale) |
| $1,500,000 or more | $0 |
BC’s newly built home exemption removes the property transfer tax on a new home with a fair market value of $1,100,000 or less, with a partial exemption up to $1,150,000. You must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, move in within 92 days, and live there as your principal residence for the rest of the first year.
For a first-time buyer, this count decides a lot. 134 of the 246 new condos asked $1 million or less. Only 15 of the 179 multiplex homes did. At $1,100,000, it’s 150 condos against 19 multiplex homes. If your budget is under a million and you qualify for both programs, a new condo can return up to $50,000 in GST and skip the property transfer tax.
What is the same in both
- Renting it out. Since November 24, 2022, a BC strata can’t restrict long-term rentals of its units (Strata Property Act s.141). It can still limit or ban short-term rentals, so a condo or a fourplex strata can say no to nightly rentals.
- Age rules. A strata bylaw can’t restrict the age of residents, except a bylaw that requires residents to be 55 or older (s.123.1).
- Warranty. A new condo and a new multiplex home both come with BC’s home warranty: 2 years on labour and materials, 5 on the building envelope, 10 on the structure. VanPlex explains how that warranty works on a multiplex.
The questions I ask before we book showings
- How many bedrooms do you need in 5 years? If the answer is 3, the numbers above favour the multiplex home.
- What’s the most you can spend, and are you a first-time buyer? Under $1 million, look at condos first. Over $1.5 million, the GST rebate is gone either way.
- Do you want your own front door at street level, or a lobby and a building manager? Decide this before you look at prices.
- Do you want a hand in running the building? A small multiplex strata has 3 to 6 owners to share every decision.
- Where do you need to be? The areas with the most new multiplex homes for sale were South Granville (19), Shaughnessy (18), Renfrew VE (17) and Kitsilano (12). Downtown and the West End had 3.
How to compare two listings yourself
Take one condo and one multiplex home you like and put them side by side:
- Divide each price by its floor area. Compare that number with the medians above.
- Ask for the strata budget and what it pays for, especially insurance.
- Count the strata lots. Five or more means a depreciation report every 5 years.
- Check the ownership type on the listing: strata lot, or a share of a title.
- Work out the GST rebate and the property transfer tax for each price.
You can browse every new multiplex home for sale on VanPlex’s multiplex-for-sale page, with each listing’s price per square foot set against others in its city. If you’d like help comparing two homes, you can reach my team at The Donum Group.
Morgan Browne, REALTOR® | Co-founder, Oakwyn Realty | The Donum Group
