16.5%. That is the October attached sales-to-active ratio in Metro Vancouver, from Greater Vancouver REALTORS®’ October 2026 statistics released November 2. In September it was 12.2%. For a multiplex builder this is the absorption line: how fast finished ground-oriented units clear. It rose 4.3 points in one month, and in the same month the exit index fell faster than land for the second month running. Then on October 28 the Bank of Canada raised its policy rate to 2.5%. Three proforma lines moved in October, and they moved in different directions.
The October Numbers
Benchmark prices first. These are MLS® Home Price Index values: market-wide figures for the whole Greater Vancouver REALTORS® region.
| Benchmark (MLS® HPI) | October 2026 | Year over year | From September |
|---|---|---|---|
| Composite (all residential) | $1,068,600 | -5.2% | -0.7% |
| Detached | $1,775,200 | -7.0% | -0.5% |
| Attached / townhouse | $1,006,500 | -5.5% | -1.0% |
| Apartment | $673,400 | -5.9% | -1.3% |
Then the activity side.
| Activity measure | October 2026 | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Total residential sales | 2,024 | Down 10.2% from 2,255 in October 2025; 22.5% below the 10-year seasonal average of 2,612 |
| Detached sales | 643 | Down 7.2% from 693 |
| Attached sales | 468 | Down 1.9% from 477 |
| Apartment sales | 892 | Down 16.7% from 1,071 |
| New listings | 4,805 | Down 11.6% from 5,438; 1% above the 10-year seasonal average of 4,758 |
| Active listings | 15,688 | Down 4.3% from 16,393; 24% above the 10-year seasonal average of 12,649 |
| Sales-to-active ratio | 13.4% overall | Detached 11.6%, attached 16.5%, apartment 13.5% |
Source: Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, October 2026 MLS® Residential Market Report, released November 2, 2026.
Andrew Lis, GVR’s chief economist and vice-president of data analytics, said in the release that buyers and sellers paused in October to wait for more certainty, and he named the rate increase, the provincial and municipal elections, and doubt about where mortgage rates go next. He also said higher borrowing costs now take back part of what buyers gained as prices fell this year. For a builder, that is the end buyer’s problem in one line, and it becomes yours at completion.
What This Does to the Land Side
The detached benchmark is your acquisition line. Multiplex projects start on single-family lots, so $1,775,200, down 7.0% on the year and down 0.5% in the month, is the index for what a fresh deal costs to enter.
The detached sales-to-active ratio rose from 9.7% in September to 11.6%. Inverted, 11.6% is 8.6 months of supply, against 10.3 months in September. That is my arithmetic on the board’s ratio, the same calculation as last month. It is still under the 12% level GVR ties to downward price pressure when it holds for a sustained period, by 0.4 points.
Detached sales fell 7.2% on the year, to 643, after rising 4.2% in September. Across all types, new listings fell 11.6% from last October and active listings fell to 15,688, which is 706 fewer homes for sale than at the end of September.
Practical version: you still have negotiating room on a lot, and less of it than in September. Fewer sellers listed, and the detached ratio is 0.4 points from the balanced range. Write conditional offers and take the full due diligence period, but expect a seller with a well-priced lot to have more than one conversation going.
What This Does to the Exit
The attached benchmark is the closest board proxy for what a finished ground-oriented multiplex unit sells against. In October it fell 1.0%, to $1,006,500. On the year it is down 5.5%. September’s annual decline was 4.7%, so the annual drop grew by 0.8 points in a month.
Attached sales were 468, down 1.9% from 477 a year earlier, after two months of small gains. Against September’s 358, that is 110 more sales. October is a busier month than September in most years: the 10-year averages for all types are 2,289 sales in September and 2,612 in October.
Absorption improved the most. The attached sales-to-active ratio went from 12.2% to 16.5%. Inverted, that is 6.1 months of supply, against 8.2 months in September. Attached is again the fastest-clearing of the three property types.
What I take from that: units are clearing faster, at lower prices. A project selling in the next few months should get through its inventory sooner than September’s numbers suggested. Price it to October’s benchmark.
The Spread
$1,775,200 minus $1,006,500 is $768,700. That distance, between the index for the land you buy and the index for the units you sell, is the gross development margin of this business before construction, soft costs, financing, fees, and GST take their share.
Over the year, the ratio still favours the builder, by less. Land fell 7.0%, exits fell 5.5%, a gap of 1.5 percentage points. In September the same gap was 2.6 points.
Within October, it moved against the builder for the second month. The attached benchmark was 57.0% of detached in September and 56.7% in October. The dollar gap widened by $700, because the detached benchmark fell $9,500 in the month and the townhouse benchmark fell $10,200.
The board publishes the same two benchmarks by sub-area:
| Sub-area (October 2026) | Detached benchmark | Townhouse benchmark | Gap | Townhouse as % of detached |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Vancouver | $1,775,200 | $1,006,500 | $768,700 | 56.7% |
| Port Coquitlam | $1,235,900 | $854,900 | $381,000 | 69.2% |
| Vancouver East | $1,610,700 | $1,055,800 | $554,900 | 65.5% |
| New Westminster | $1,347,700 | $852,000 | $495,700 | 63.2% |
| Coquitlam | $1,571,400 | $962,600 | $608,800 | 61.3% |
| North Vancouver | $2,058,800 | $1,221,100 | $837,700 | 59.3% |
| Richmond | $1,833,100 | $1,009,300 | $823,800 | 55.1% |
| Burnaby East | $1,681,600 | $839,300 | $842,300 | 49.9% |
| Burnaby North | $1,795,200 | $873,000 | $922,200 | 48.6% |
| Burnaby South | $1,904,400 | $922,900 | $981,500 | 48.5% |
| Vancouver West | $2,899,700 | $1,285,000 | $1,614,700 | 44.3% |
Benchmark prices are from the October 2026 GVR HPI tables. The percentage column is my arithmetic on those two published figures, nothing more.
Port Coquitlam is still first, at 69.2%, up from 67.2% in September. The large mover is Vancouver East. In September I noted that its townhouse benchmark had fallen faster than its detached benchmark over the year. In October the Vancouver East townhouse benchmark rose 7.7% in one month, to $1,055,800, while its detached benchmark fell 1.2%. The ratio went from 60.1% to 65.5%, second in the table. Vancouver East is now the only sub-area where the townhouse benchmark is above last October, by 0.4%. A 7.7% move in one month in one sub-area can reverse, so I would want November’s figure before changing a Vancouver East exit assumption on it.
None of this ranks where to build. Servicing, tree retention, frontage, DCLs, and construction cost sit outside this table and often decide the project. It is a starting filter.
The illustration, with its assumptions labelled
Take the regional benchmarks and assume, purely for illustration, a four-unit project. Four units at the attached benchmark is $4,026,000 of gross revenue against a land index of $1,775,200, leaving $2,250,800 to cover everything else. In September the same arithmetic left $2,282,100, so the envelope shrank by $31,300 in a month, after shrinking $33,700 the month before.
Every one of those numbers except the two benchmarks is an assumption. The unit count is assumed. The idea that four new multiplex units each sell at a regional benchmark that blends townhouses of every age across the areas GVR covers is an assumption. Construction cost, soft costs, financing, municipal fees, GST, and profit are all absent, because the board publishes none of them. The exercise gives you the size of the envelope. Your own costs decide whether the project works.
The Financing Backdrop
On October 28, 2026, the Bank of Canada raised its target for the overnight rate by 25 basis points, to 2.5%, with the Bank Rate at 2.75%. It had held at 2.25% at every announcement earlier in the year. The Bank said it raised the rate “to reduce the risk that continuing high energy prices spread broadly to the prices of other goods and services,” and that “there could be a need to increase the policy rate further.” The next scheduled announcement is December 9, 2026.
The policy rate reaches a multiplex deal from two directions. It anchors the floating rate on the construction facility, so the carrying cost on a floating loan went up 0.25 points from the day lenders moved prime. And it sets the mortgage rate your end buyer qualifies at, which decides how much of that $1,006,500 a family can finance.
Last month I said not to write a proforma that only works if October brought a cut. October brought an increase. My read is that you should now carry at least the current rate for the whole build period, and test what one more quarter-point increase does to your carry. Treat that as a stress test for your numbers.
What I’d Do This Month
If you already own the lot. Your basis is set. Re-run your project at the October attached benchmark of $1,006,500 instead of September’s $1,016,700, and at your lender’s rate after October 28. The good news for you is absorption: 6.1 months of attached supply by the arithmetic above, against 8.2 in September. If the project clears at the lower price and the higher carry, it is still worth starting.
If you are shopping for a lot. You still have room, with less of it than in September. The detached ratio is 11.6%, active listings are 24% above the seasonal average, and detached sales fell 7.2% on the year. New listings fell 11.6%, so there are fewer lots to choose from. Use the sub-area table as a first filter, keep conditions in every offer, and price your land against an exit index that has fallen faster than land for two months.
If you are mid-build and weighing sell versus hold. The attached ratio is 16.5%, so selling at completion is easier than it was in September. Holding costs more than it did a month ago, because the rate went up. If your mix is family-sized and your completion is close, I would lean to selling at the October benchmark. If you hold, price the carry off 2.5% plus one more increase, and revisit after December 9.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the Metro Vancouver detached benchmark price in October 2026?
The Metro Vancouver detached benchmark price was $1,775,200 in October 2026, down 7.0% from October 2025 and down 0.5% from September 2026, per Greater Vancouver REALTORS®’ October 2026 report released November 2. For a multiplex builder this is the acquisition index, because projects start on single-family lots. It is a regional index value, so it does not price any particular lot.
What is the Metro Vancouver townhouse benchmark price in October 2026?
The Metro Vancouver attached, or townhouse, benchmark price was $1,006,500 in October 2026, down 5.5% year over year and down 1.0% from September. It fell faster than the detached benchmark in the month for the second month in a row. It is the closest board proxy for what a finished ground-oriented multiplex unit sells against, though it blends townhouses of every age across the GVR region.
What is the spread between land and exit prices for a Vancouver multiplex in October 2026?
The spread between the Metro Vancouver detached and attached benchmarks was $768,700 in October 2026, which is $1,775,200 minus $1,006,500. The attached benchmark equals 56.7% of the detached benchmark, down from 57.0% in September. That gap is the gross development margin before construction, soft costs, financing, municipal fees, and GST, so it sizes the envelope, and your own costs decide whether a project works.
Are multiplex-style units selling in Metro Vancouver in October 2026?
Yes, and faster than in September. Attached sales reached 468 in October 2026, up from 358 in September and down 1.9% from 477 in October 2025. The attached sales-to-active ratio rose from 12.2% to 16.5%, the highest of the three property types, which works out to 6.1 months of supply. Units are clearing faster, at a benchmark 1.0% lower than in September.
What did the Bank of Canada do in October 2026, and how does it hit a multiplex build?
The Bank of Canada raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 2.5% on October 28, 2026, after holding at 2.25% at every earlier announcement in 2026. It said a further increase could be needed. The next announcement is December 9, 2026. The rate anchors the floating cost on a construction facility, and it sets what an end buyer can qualify to pay for a finished unit.
Is October 2026 a good time to buy a multiplex development lot in Metro Vancouver?
Lot buyers still have room, with less of it than in September. The detached sales-to-active ratio was 11.6% in October 2026, below the 12% level GVR ties to downward price pressure, and active listings of 15,688 sat 24% above the 10-year seasonal average. New listings fell 11.6% on the year, so there are fewer lots to choose from. Every lot still has to clear its own proforma.
Which Metro Vancouver sub-areas have the highest land-to-exit ratio for multiplex development?
In October 2026 the townhouse benchmark sat highest relative to the detached benchmark in Port Coquitlam at 69.2% ($854,900 against $1,235,900), then Vancouver East at 65.5% and New Westminster at 63.2%. Vancouver West was lowest at 44.3%. These percentages are arithmetic on GVR’s published sub-area benchmarks and are a first filter only, since servicing, trees, frontage, fees, and construction cost decide projects.
Why did the Vancouver East townhouse benchmark jump in October 2026?
The Vancouver East townhouse benchmark rose 7.7% in October 2026, to $1,055,800, while the Vancouver East detached benchmark fell 1.2%, per GVR’s HPI tables. The board does not give a reason for one sub-area’s move. One month of 7.7% in a single sub-area can reverse, so a builder should wait for November’s figure before changing a Vancouver East exit price assumption on it.
Sources
- Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, October 2026 MLS® Residential Market Report (news release and HPI tables, released November 2, 2026), including the Andrew Lis commentary summarised above and the sub-area benchmark tables. Accessed November 5, 2026.
- Bank of Canada, policy rate raised to 2.5% (October 28, 2026) (next announcement December 9, 2026). Accessed November 5, 2026.
- Previous month: The $768,000 Spread: Vancouver Multiplex, September 2026
The board publishes the market, and your proforma decides the project. To see how the October numbers land on your specific lot, run it through the VanPlex proforma, or start with the Vancouver multiplex data we maintain across the R1-1 stock.
David Babakaiff, CEO & Co-Founder of VanPlex
PlexRank™ | Profit with Multiplex
