The City of Vancouver is updating its housing supply targets and introducing a 3-Year Housing Action Plan in response to provincial directives. The revised targets aim to address population growth, housing needs, and new provincial requirements.
Updated Housing Targets
The new 10-year target, spanning from 2024 to 2033, proposes 83,000 new homes, a 15% increase over the previous 2017 target of 72,000 homes. This comprehensive plan includes specific sub-targets:
30,000 Purpose-Built Market Rental Units
26,500 Strata Condominium Units
8,500 Non-Profit Social Housing/Co-op Units
7,000 Townhouses, Duplexes, and Multiplexes
5,500 Purpose-Built Below-Market Units
4,000 Laneway Homes
1,500 Supportive Housing Units
A breakdown of the targetted 83,000 new housing units.(City of Vancouver)
Focus on Rental Units
The City aims for 61,600 rental units (75% of the total target), including secondary rental units. Of these, 15,500 units are targeted to be below-market units, encompassing supportive, non-profit, and co-op housing.
Family-Size and Low-Density Units
33,400 Family-Size Units (40%)
11,000 Low-Density Units (13%)
Comparison with Provincial Targets
The Province has set a five-year Housing Target Order (HTO) of 28,900 units, based on completions. The City’s targets, based on approvals, must exceed provincial numbers to account for potential non-completions.
Challenges and Strategic Responses
City staff highlight the difficulty of meeting the full need for moderate- and low-income housing due to rising costs and higher interest rates. The City plans to deliver 10,000 social and supportive housing units and 5,500 below-market rental units over the next decade.
Three-Bedroom Units
The City acknowledges it cannot meet the provincial recommendation of 22% for three-bedroom units, aiming instead for 14% due to economic constraints and development trends.
3-Year Housing Action Plan
The plan, comprised of 50 actions, leverages the City’s regulatory, investment, and partnership roles. It focuses on three principles: reconciliation, equity, and resilience, and addresses seven key policy areas:
Housing Need
Seniors housing strategy
Housing targets on City-owned land
Enabling more student housing
Geographic Equity
Simplifying apartment district schedules
Introducing a city-wide development guide
Implementing 25 village areas from the Vancouver Plan
Addressing Homelessness
SRO Intergovernmental Investment Strategy
Expanding shelter capacity
Delivering more supportive housing with senior governments
Community Housing
Proactive zoning for social and co-operative housing
Supporting non-profit building acquisitions
Advancing projects on City-owned land
Indigenous Housing
Progressing Jericho Lands project
Implementing UNDRIP Strategy actions
Initiating new projects on City-owned sites
Rental Housing
Streamlining delivery with pre-approved plans
Retrofitting existing buildings
Expanding tenant protections
Speculation
Regulating short-term rentals
Monitoring Empty Homes Tax effectiveness
Limiting land speculation through Development Contribution Expectations Policy
Council Consideration
The Council will review the updated Housing Vancouver Strategy 10-year targets, the 3-Year Action Plan, and a proposed Rental Housing on City-land – Public Benefits Pilot Rezoning Policy, which aims to reduce reliance on community amenity contributions (CACs) by exempting five rezoning applications if they provide non-tax revenue to the City.
For more information, visit the official City of Vancouver website or contact the housing department.
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The number of transactions on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) declined in May compared to what is typical for this time of year in Metro Vancouver1. This shift has allowed the inventory of homes available for sale to continue to accumulate with over 13,000 homes now actively listed on the MLS® in the region.
The Greater Vancouver REALTORS® (GVR)2 reports that residential sales in the region totalled 2,733 in May 2024, a 19.9 per cent decrease from the 3,411 sales recorded in May 2023. Last month’s sales total was also down 19.6 per cent from the 10-year seasonal average for May (3,398).
“The surprise in the May data is that sales have come in softer than what we’d typically expect to see at this point in the year, while the number of newly listed homes for sale is carrying some of the momentum seen in the April data,” Andrew Lis, GVR’s director of economics and data analytics said.
“It’s a natural inclination to chalk these trends up to one factor or another, but what we’re seeing is a culmination of factors influencing buyer and seller decisions in the market right now. It’s everything from higher borrowing costs, to worries about the economy, to policy interventions imposed by various levels of government.”
There were 6,374 detached, attached and apartment properties newly listed for sale on the MLS® in Metro Vancouver in May 2024. This represents a 12.6 per cent increase compared to the 5,661 properties listed in May 2023 and a seven per cent increase compared to the 10-year seasonal average (5,958).
The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS® system in Metro Vancouver is 13,600, a 46.3 per cent increase compared to May 2023 (9,293). This total is also up 19.9 per cent above the 10-year seasonal average (11,344).
Across all detached, attached and apartment property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for May 2024 is 20.8 per cent. By property type, the ratio is 16.8 per cent for detached homes, 25.1 per cent for attached, and 22.5 per cent for apartment properties.
Analysis of the historical data suggests downward pressure on home prices occurs when the ratio dips below 12 per cent for a sustained period, while home prices often experience upward pressure when it surpasses 20 per cent over several months.
Source: GVR
“With market trends now tilting back toward more balanced conditions, as the number of new listings outpaces the number of sales, we should expect to see slower price growth over the coming months,” Lis said.
“Up until recently, prices were climbing modestly across all market segments. But with rising inventory levels and softening demand, buyers who’ve been waiting for an opportunity might have more luck this summer, even if borrowing costs remain elevated.”
The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) composite benchmark price3 for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $1,212,000. This represents a 2.3 per cent increase over May 2023 and a 0.5 per cent increase compared to April 2024.
Sales of detached homes in May 2024 reached 846, an 18.9 per cent decrease from the 1,043 detached sales recorded in May 2023. The benchmark price for a detached home is $2,062,600. This represents a 5.9 per cent increase from May 2023 and a 1.3 per cent increase compared to April 2024.
Sales of apartment homes reached 1,338 in May 2024, a 22.7 per cent decrease compared to the 1,730 sales in May 2023. The benchmark price of an apartment home is $776,200. This represents a 2.2 per cent increase from May 2023 and a 0.3 per cent decrease compared to April 2024.
Attached home sales in May 2024 totalled 523, a 14 per cent decrease compared to the 608 sales in May 2023. The benchmark price of a townhouse is $1,145,500. This represents a 5.2 per cent increase from May 2023 and a 0.9 per cent increase compared to April 2024.
1 Areas covered by Greater Vancouver REALTORS® include: Bowen Island, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, South Delta, Squamish, Sunshine Coast, Vancouver, West Vancouver, and Whistler.
2 On February 12, 2024, The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver changed its organizational name to the Greater Vancouver REALTORS®.
3 The national MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI) operations group underwent an annual review of the model in May in-line with statistical best practices. The attributes and neighbourhoods within the model were updated based on sales data to more accurately reflect current market conditions. To ensure the MLS® HPI coverage is consistent and comparable, historical aggregate and composite data has been recalculated.
