A lot’s zoning letters decide whether you can build a multiplex, not the price, not the neighbourhood, not what your neighbour just built. R1-1 allows a multiplex outright, no rezoning. RT-8 and RT-10 do not, even after two rounds of provincial pressure to change that. RM zones already permit apartments at densities most R1-1 owners will never reach. C-2 is a commercial strip zone where a home above a shop needs city sign-off case by case. Here is what each letter actually lets you build, and where the line sits between a lot that qualifies today and one that does not.
R1-1: the zone that carries Vancouver’s multiplex program
R1-1 replaced the old RS-1 single-family schedule on September 14, 2023, in effect October 17, 2023, and it now covers most of Vancouver’s former single-detached blocks. It is the zone doing the work: VanPlex’s own analysis of 56,088 R1-1 lots found that only 2%, roughly 1,500 properties, clear the 100%+ return on equity threshold that makes a ground-up multiplex worth the risk. Half the lots come back at a negative or near-zero return. A quarter land in the 15% to 30% range, barely worth the work. Another quarter land in the 30% to 90% range, which is builder-grade but not exceptional. That 2% figure is VanPlex’s own PlexRank modelling, built from real construction costs, financing terms, city fees, and resale comparables, not a City of Vancouver statistic. The zoning lets almost every R1-1 lot build. The math says almost none of them should.
R1-1 sets three unit bands, and a lot has to clear both the minimum site area and the minimum frontage for its band, under the District Schedule’s June 2026 consolidation:
| Unit count | Minimum site area | Minimum frontage | Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 or more units | 557 m² (5,995 sq ft) | 15.1 m (49.54 ft) | 3.1.2.1 |
| 5 units | 464 m² (4,994 sq ft) | 13.4 m (43.96 ft) | 3.1.2.2 |
| 3 or 4 units | 306 m² (3,294 sq ft) | 10.0 m (32.81 ft) | 3.1.2.3 |
A standard 33 by 122 foot Vancouver lot measures 10.06 m of frontage, clearing the three-or-four-unit band by 2.3 inches. A standard 50 by 122 foot lot measures 15.24 m, clearing the six-unit band by 5.5 inches. The margins are thin enough that a survey discrepancy of half a foot can drop a lot a full tier. There is also a minimum site depth of 30.4 m (99.7 feet) under section 3.1.2.4, so a shallow lot fails regardless of how wide it is.
Floor space ratio (FSR), the ratio of total building floor area to lot size, is 1.0 as of right, rising to 1.25 with Net Zero energy construction. Multiple dwelling is a conditional approval use decided by the Director of Planning under section 2.2.7, which means every application still goes through design review, even though the use itself is guaranteed on a qualifying lot. On the secured-rental path, where every unit is committed to long-term rental rather than sold as strata, a qualifying lot can reach 8 units instead of 6.
RT-7 and RT-9: brought up to the R1-1 standard in 2024
RT-7 (north Kitsilano) and RT-9 (near Commercial Drive and Victoria) started as character-retention, two-family districts, but Vancouver Council amended both to match the R1-1 program. The amendment went to public hearing June 13, 2024 and took effect June 30, 2024: outright FSR raised to 1.0, and multiplex added as a use on qualifying lots on the same site-area and frontage terms as R1-1. If your lot sits in RT-7 or RT-9, you are working from the same numbers in the table above, not a separate, lower-density schedule.
RT-8 and RT-10: the two zones the province had to force
RT-8 (parts of West Kitsilano) and RT-10 (Kensington-Cedar Cottage) were left out of the original 2023 multiplex bylaw. City staff argued both zones already permitted “multiple dwelling” as a conditional use, so neither one met the provincial definition of a “restricted zone” that Bill 44’s small-scale multi-unit housing (SSMUH) rules were written to fix.
As of April 2026, the two zones sat well below the R1-1 standard. RT-8’s outright maximum density was 0.50 FSR, with a rule that at least half the units in a building have to contain two or more bedrooms. RT-10’s outright maximum was 0.80 FSR with 45% maximum site coverage. In both zones, a multiplex needed conditional approval or a rezoning application. Neither zone gave an owner the as-of-right building permit process that R1-1 owners have used since October 2023.
That loophole closed on paper. Bill 25, the province’s Housing and Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, received Royal Assent on November 27, 2025, and it broadened the SSMUH “restricted zone” definition to cover any zone where a single detached dwelling, a secondary suite, or a detached accessory dwelling is the primary allowed use, which brings RT-8 and RT-10 inside the mandate. Vancouver’s deadline to comply was June 30, 2026. At the time of writing, no City of Vancouver council report naming a specific new FSR or unit count for RT-8 or RT-10 has been published, so this article states the two zones’ figures as they stood before that deadline and flags the change as pending rather than guessing at a number nobody has confirmed yet. If you own in either zone, check the number on your property directly against the City’s current district schedule before pricing a project, because the outright figure above is the one most likely to move.
RM zones: apartment density, not the multiplex program
RM stands for multiple dwelling, and RM zones already allow purpose-built apartment buildings at densities most R1-1 lots cannot reach on their own. RM-1, a duplex-adjacent East Vancouver schedule, caps outright FSR at 0.40, rising to 0.65 where a residential building built before January 1, 1940 is retained. RM-4, the medium-density apartment schedule across Mount Pleasant and Fairview, allows 4-storey apartments and 6-storey social housing apartments at up to 1.45 FSR, rising to 3.00 where the entire residential floor area is social housing.
RM zones are not part of the SSMUH multiplex conversation because they were never restricted to single-family use in the first place. Bill 44’s small-scale multi-unit housing rules exist to open up zones that only allowed one house per lot. An RM zone already allows an apartment building, so the province had no reason to touch it. If your lot is zoned RM, the relevant question is not whether Bill 44 unlocks a multiplex. It is what apartment form your specific RM sub-district already permits, and RM sub-districts vary by roughly a factor of seven in maximum density, from RM-1’s 0.40 FSR to RM-4’s 3.00 FSR ceiling for social housing.
C-2: a commercial strip, not a multiplex zone
C-2 is Vancouver’s district-shopping commercial schedule, covering strips like parts of Commercial Drive, Dunbar Street, and Kingsway. Its intent is to keep ground-floor retail serving the neighbourhood while allowing residential floors above. In the current C-2 sub-district schedules, a multiple dwelling is a use the Director of Planning approves case by case if the specific site is judged suitable for residential use, not a use every C-2 lot gets automatically. That is the opposite of what R1-1 does: R1-1 guarantees a qualifying lot the use outright, with the Director of Planning reviewing design, not eligibility. C-2 makes the use itself discretionary.
A single-family house does not sit on C-2 land. C-2 shows up in a multiplex feasibility check only when a lot backs onto or sits within a C-2 strip and an owner is asking whether a mixed residential-commercial building is possible, which is a rezoning-scale question, not a Bill 44 as-of-right question.
The zoning sets the ceiling, the lot sets the price
The letter on a lot sets a ceiling on what it can build, not the price that lot is worth. A 33 foot R1-1 lot and a 50 foot R1-1 lot both clear a multiplex band, but one produces four units and the other can produce six, and the site-specific costs of servicing, trees, slope, and lane access decide how much of that ceiling is worth building to. VanPlex’s 56,088-lot analysis found 98% of technically eligible R1-1 lots do not clear the return threshold that justifies development risk, even though every one of them is zoned to build.
Which zone are you in, and does it clear the bar
| Zone | Multiplex allowed today | Outright FSR | Path |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1-1 | Yes, outright on a qualifying lot | 1.0, up to 1.25 Net Zero | As-of-right building permit |
| RT-7 / RT-9 | Yes, outright, matched to R1-1 in June 2024 | 1.0 | As-of-right building permit |
| RT-8 | Not outright as of the June 30, 2026 deadline; change pending | 0.50 (pre-amendment) | Conditional approval or rezoning |
| RT-10 | Not outright as of the June 30, 2026 deadline; change pending | 0.80 (pre-amendment) | Conditional approval or rezoning |
| RM (all sub-districts) | Not applicable, apartment use already permitted | 0.40 to 3.00 depending on sub-district | Governed by RM schedule, not SSMUH |
| C-2 | No, residential use is discretionary | Not standardized across sub-districts | Director of Planning approval, case by case |
If your address is R1-1, RT-7, or RT-9, the next question is whether your lot’s actual frontage and site area clear the band you are aiming for, not whether the zoning allows it in principle. If it is RT-8 or RT-10, treat the current figures as the ones in force until the City publishes a specific replacement, and do not price a sale or a refinance against a number that has not been enacted yet. If it is RM or C-2, the multiplex program does not apply to your lot at all, and the real question is what your specific sub-district’s own apartment or mixed-use rules allow.
Run your own address through PlexRank to see the zone, the unit band, and the return before you commit to a design.
David Babakaiff PlexRank™ | Profit with Multiplex
