What Drives the Price | Size for Your Money
How much space your money buys, city by city
The clearest way to see what a shorter commute costs. Same product type, same two year build window, ordered by how big the homes actually are.
The short answer
Pitt Meadows has the largest newly built ground-oriented homes in the region at a median of 2,492 sq ft. Surrey's median home is 460 sq ft larger than Vancouver's and $569,950 cheaper, on the same product type built in the same two year window. That trade is the clearest thing in this entire dataset.
- Largest median home
- 2,492 sq ft
- In
- Pitt Meadows
- Regional median
- 1,612 sq ft
- Cities measured
- 19
Median home size, largest first
The note beside each bar is the median list price in that city, so you can read size and price together rather than one at a time.
- Pitt Meadows $1,229,900 2,492 sq ft
- Delta $1,319,000 2,270 sq ft
- Ladner $1,399,999 2,213 sq ft
- Burnaby $1,577,000 2,165 sq ft
- Surrey $1,079,950 2,005 sq ft
- Mission $789,000 1,813 sq ft
- Squamish $1,349,900 1,791 sq ft
- Abbotsford $822,000 1,788 sq ft
- Langley $949,900 1,678 sq ft
- Maple Ridge $849,900 1,671 sq ft
- Chilliwack $679,900 1,660 sq ft
- Port Coquitlam $1,079,450 1,651 sq ft
- North Vancouver $1,469,900 1,574 sq ft
- Vancouver $1,649,900 1,545 sq ft
- New Westminster $999,888 1,518 sq ft
- Coquitlam $1,184,400 1,483 sq ft
- Richmond $1,348,000 1,422 sq ft
- Pemberton $1,049,000 1,400 sq ft
- Tsawwassen $719,900 1,299 sq ft
The trade, at its starkest
| Vancouver | Surrey | |
|---|---|---|
| Active listings | 605 | 180 |
| Median list price | $1,649,900 | $1,079,950 |
| Median size | 1,545 sq ft | 2,005 sq ft |
| Median per sq ft | $1,093 | $553 |
| Four bedrooms or more | 155 | 119 |
| Median strata fee | $451 | $325 |
The Surrey home is bigger, cheaper to buy, and cheaper to run every month. Everything it costs you is on a map rather than in a spreadsheet. That is not an argument for either city. It is the shape of the choice.
Every city, ordered by median size
| City | Active | Median price | Per sq ft | Median size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitt Meadows | 7 | $1,085,360 to $1,355,000 | $478 to $645 | 2,492 |
| Delta | 51 | $1,319,000 | $592 | 2,270 |
| Ladner | 5 | $1,274,920 to $1,498,000 | $536 to $671 | 2,213 |
| Burnaby | 122 | $1,577,000 | $731 | 2,165 |
| Surrey | 180 | $1,079,950 | $553 | 2,005 |
| Mission | 45 | $789,000 | $430 | 1,813 |
| Squamish | 25 | $1,349,900 | $794 | 1,791 |
| Abbotsford | 42 | $822,000 | $494 | 1,788 |
| Langley | 82 | $949,900 | $569 | 1,678 |
| Maple Ridge | 21 | $849,900 | $524 | 1,671 |
| Chilliwack | 21 | $679,900 | $410 | 1,660 |
| Port Coquitlam | 12 | $1,079,450 | $674 | 1,651 |
| North Vancouver | 45 | $1,469,900 | $952 | 1,574 |
| Vancouver | 605 | $1,649,900 | $1,093 | 1,545 |
| New Westminster | 11 | $999,888 | $675 | 1,518 |
| Coquitlam | 94 | $1,184,400 | $753 | 1,483 |
| Richmond | 94 | $1,348,000 | $877 | 1,422 |
| Pemberton | 13 | $1,049,000 | $749 | 1,400 |
| Tsawwassen | 5 | $703,900 to $1,375,293 | $542 to $631 | 1,299 |
A dash means fewer than four active listings, which is too few to publish a figure for. Rows with four to seven listings show a range instead of a median.
Common questions
Which city has the biggest new townhouses in Metro Vancouver?
Pitt Meadows, at a median of 2,492 sq ft across 7 active listings. Burnaby, Surrey, and Delta all sit well above the regional median of 1,612 sq ft, largely because their newly built stock leans toward half duplexes on rebuilt single family lots rather than townhouses in complexes.
How much more space do you get in Surrey than in Vancouver?
460 sq ft more at the median, for $569,950 less. Surrey's median newly built ground-oriented home is 2,005 sq ft at $1,079,950. Vancouver's is 1,545 sq ft at $1,649,900.
Why are homes in Vancouver smaller?
Because the lots are narrow and expensive. A builder replacing a single family house on a 33 foot Vancouver lot has little width to work with, so the homes go up three storeys with a small floor plate. In the suburbs the lots are wider and the land is cheaper, so the same budget buys floor area instead.
Is bigger better?
Only if you use the space. A 2,300 square foot home costs more to heat, more to furnish, more to clean, and usually carries a higher property tax bill. What the numbers do settle is that the size difference between cities is not small, so it is worth deciding deliberately rather than by default.
How many cities are compared on this page?
19 cities across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, each with at least five active listings of newly built townhouses, half duplexes, or row houses. The regional median across all of them is 1,612 sq ft, and cities are ranked from largest median home size down.
What does the median strata fee look like in Vancouver compared to Surrey?
$451 a month in Vancouver against $325 in Surrey, on top of the size and price gap between the two cities. That fee difference adds to the monthly cost gap beyond just the mortgage payment, and it compounds every month a buyer owns the home rather than being a one-time cost.
Does a bigger home in the suburbs come with more bedrooms too?
Usually, and this data shows the pattern directly. 155 Vancouver listings have four or more bedrooms, against 119 in Surrey, reflecting the wider floor plates that cheaper suburban land allows a builder to use. A narrower Vancouver lot simply has less width to divide into bedrooms.
What is the median price per square foot in Vancouver versus Surrey?
$1,093 in Vancouver against $553 in Surrey. That per square foot gap is what drives the price difference between the two cities even before total home size is factored in, and it reflects the cost of the land under each home rather than the quality of construction.
Where these figures come from
- VanPlex active listings, MLS® data
Active townhouses, half duplexes, and row houses built in the last two years across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
Checked
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.