March 2025
British Columbia’s Monthly NEW HOMES REGISTRY REPORT
Report Context The Monthly New Homes Registry Report provides information on new home registrations, which occur before the issuance of building permits and housing starts. As new home registrations are subject to change, they should be considered as planned or proposed projects. The report is intended for use by the residential construction industry, real estate community and researchers.
Figure 1: Registered New Homes 1 by Building Type, 2002 – 2025 Year-to-Date
General Highlights
60,000
• In the first three months of 2025, 15,549 new homes were registered 1 in B.C., including 1,660 single detached 2 and 13,889 multi-unit homes 3 . • So far in 2025, total home registrations 1 are up 58.8% from 2024. Registrations for multi-unit homes 3 increased 67.3%, while registrations for single detached homes 2 increased 11.4%. • In March, 5,592 new homes were registered 2 in B.C., a 58.1% increase compared with March 2024. • Using a 12-month moving average 4 , there were 4,320 new registered homes 1 in March, a 4.1% increase from February for all registered new homes. • Metro Vancouver accounted for 66.6% of all new homes registered 1 in March. Surrey (924), Langley* (874) and Vancouver (868) were the top three cities in registered new homes this month. • In March, there were more multi-unit homes than single detached homes in North Cowichan, Fort St. James, Saanich, Port Moody, Langley*, New Westminster, Courtenay, Kamloops, Mission, Rossland, North Vancouver*, Surrey, Sparwood, Kelowna, Vancouver, Chilliwack, Comox, Brentwood Bay, Victoria, Lantzville, Burnaby, Revelstoke, Abbotsford, Vernon, Coquitlam, Penticton, Richmond and Nelson. • So far in 2025, 6,269 purpose-built rental units 5 were registered in B.C. Compared with the same period in 2024, the number of registered rental units increased 65.9%.
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
Single Detached Homes
Homes in Multi-unit Buildings
Total
Figure 2: Registered New Homes 1 by Building Type and Selected City 6 , March 2025
Surrey
879
45
Langley
859
15
Vancouver
801
67
New Westminster
423
7
Saanich
388
1
Port Moody
310
1
Kelowna
267
17
Homes in Multi-unit Buildings
Kamloops
139
4
Single Detached Homes
North Vancouver
131
6
North Cowichan
121
0
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
*Langley includes the City of Langley and Township of Langley. North Vancouver includes the City of North Vancouver and District of North Vancouver.
Figure 3: Registered New Homes 1 by Regional District 7 , March 2025
Number of Single Detached Homes 2 Regional % Share of Provincial Total
Number of Homes in Multi-unit Buildings 3 Regional % Share of Provincial Total
Regional District
25 4.4%
269 5.4%
Central Okanagan
37 6.4%
230 4.6%
Fraser Valley
16 2.8%
141 2.8%
Thompson-Nicola
209 36.4%
3,513 70.0%
Metro Vancouver
34 5.9%
444 8.8%
Capital
2
Single Detached Highlights • In the first three months of 2025, 1,660 new single detached homes were registered 2 in B.C. Compared with the same period in 2024, single detached registrations increased 11.4%. • In March, 574 single detached homes were registered 3 . Compared with March 2024, the number of single detached registrations increased 0.2%. • Using a 12-month moving average 4 , there were 496 new single detached registered homes 2 in March, unchanged from February. • Using a 36-month moving average 4 , there were 540 new single detached registered homes 2 in March, which is a 2.4% decrease from February. • Vancouver (67), Surrey (45) and Prince George (19) had the largest number of single detached homes registered 2 in March.
Figure 4: Registered Single Detached Homes 2 , March 2025
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2024
2025
5-year average
Figure 5: Registered Owner-built Homes 8 , 2002 – 2025 Year-to-Date
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
198
149
0
Figure 6: Registered Single Detached Homes 2 by Selected City 9 in Metro Vancouver, 2024-2025 Year-to-Date
152
Vancouver
234
98
Surrey
166
69
Langley
43
67
Burnaby
50
33
Richmond
31 31
Delta
81
20
Coquitlam
26
2024 YTD 2025 YTD
19
North Vancouver
18
15 15
West Vancouver
11
Maple Ridge
14
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Figure 7: Registered Single Detached Homes 2 in Metro Vancouver, 2002 – 2025 Year-to-Date
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000
Vancouver
Surrey
Rest of Metro Vancouver
Total Metro Vancouver
Rest of BC
3
Enrolled Multi-unit Highlights • In the first three months of 2025, 7,620 new multi-unit homes were enrolled 10 in B.C. Compared with the same period in 2024, multi-unit enrollments increased 68.5% • In March, 2,848 multi-unit homes were enrolled 10 . Compared with March 2024, the number of multi-unit enrollments increased 111.3%. • Using a 12-month moving average 4 , there were 2,078 new multi-unit enrolled homes 10 in March, trending at a 6.4% increase from February. • Using a 36-month moving average 4 , there were 1,906 new multi-unit enrolled homes 10 in March, which is effectively unchanged from February with a 0.6% decrease. • There were 316 new multi-unit buildings enrolled 10 in March. Most of these were duplexes (45.6%) and buildings of 5 to 50 units (24.7%). The largest building of 331 units was proposed to be built in Surrey. • In March, Surrey (879), Langley* (428) and Vancouver (321) had the largest number of multi-unit enrolled homes 10 in B.C.
Figure 8: Enrolled Homes in Multi-unit Buildings 10 , March 2025
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2024
2025
5-year average
Figure 9: Enrolled Multi-unit Buildings 10 by Building Size 11 , March 2025
160
144
140
120
100
78
80
59
60
40
22
20
9
4
0
Duplex
Triplex
Quadplex
5-50 Units 51-100 Units >100 Units
Figure 10: Enrolled Homes in Multi-unit Buildings 10 by 12-Month and 36-Month Moving Averages 4 , March 2025
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Enrollments by Month
12-Month Moving Average
36-Month Moving Average
4
Purpose-built Rental Highlights • In the first three months of 2025, 6,269 purpose-built rental units 5 were registered in B.C. Compared with the same period in 2024, the number of registered rental units increased 65.9%. • So far in 2025, rental units 5 represented
Figure 11: Purpose-built Rental Units 5 , March 2025
3,000
2,500
2,000
45.1% of all multi-unit registrations. • This month 2,170 rental units were
1,500
1,000
registered 12 . Compared with March 2024, the number of rental units registered increased 34.4%. • Using a 12-month moving average 4 , there were 1,746 rental units registered 5 in March, trending at a 2.7% increase from February. • Using a 36-month moving average 4 , there were 1,482 rental units registered 5 in March, unchanged from February. • There were 27 rental buildings registered 5 in March. Most of these were buildings of 5 to 50 units (29.6 %) and buildings of over 100 units (29.6%). The largest building of 423 units was proposed to be built in New Westminster. • In March, Vancouver (480), Langley* (431) and New Westminster (423) had the largest number of rental units registered 5 in B.C.
500
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2024
2025
5-year average
Figure 12: Purpose-built Rental Buildings 5 by Building Size 11 , March 2025
15
10
8
8
6
4
5
1
0
0
Duplex
Triplex
Quadplex 5-50 Units 51-100 Units >100 Units
Figure 13: Purpose-built Rental Units 5 by 12-Month and 36-Month Moving Averages 4 , March 2025
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Enrollments by Month
12-Month Moving Average
36-Month Moving Average
5
Data Tables
Table 1: Registered New Homes 1 , 2002 to 2025
Registered New Single Detached Homes 2
Registered New Homes in Multi-unit Buildings 3
Calendar Year
Purpose-built Rental 5
Single Detached Homes Enrolled with Home Warranty Insurance
Owner Builder Authorizations 8
Homes in Multi-unit Buildings with Home Warranty Insurance 10
9,179
3,268
12,075
2,178
2002
11,498
3,507
16,338
2,542
2003
11,746
3,666
19,732
2,654
2004
11,619
3,854
23,211
1,945
2005
10,837
4,124
23,393
1,488
2006
9,995
3,959
25,294
1,688
2007
7,848
3,373
14,924
801
2008
7,176
2,749
6,747
1,783
2009
8,432
3,199
13,949
1,716
2010
7,407
2,596
14,498
1,371
2011
6,912
2,445
16,279
1,948
2012
6,536
2,067
15,803
2,951
2013
8,886
2,335
15,929
2,962
2014
8,848
2,549
17,899
4,736
2015
10,625
2,211
22,749
5,272
2016
11,011
1,136
20,419
9,305
2017
9,478
1,173
25,901
7,724
2018
7,480
960
21,910
13,259
2019
8,143
984
13,360
8,775
2020
10,386
1,085
27,040
13,148
2021
7,464
932
27,291
14,595
2022
5,501
692
19,437
19,168
2023
5,197
582
21,835
18,462
2024
1,341
149
4,522
3,779
2024 YTD
1,462
198
7,620
6,269
2025 YTD
6
Table 2: Registered New Homes 1 , 2024 to 2025 and 5-year Average, Monthly
Registered New Single Detached Homes 2
Registered New Homes in Multi-unit Buildings 3
Month
5-year Average 12
5-year Average 12
2025
2024
2025
2024
513
428
616
4,182
1,721
2,660
Jan
573
489
700
4,689
3,617
3,237
Feb
574
573
871
5,018
2,963
3,303
Mar
509
780
5,613
3,521
Apr
526
759
2,070
2,818
May
493
766
4,660
3,921
Jun
473
635
3,352
2,828
Jul
506
666
2,538
3,035
Aug
411
619
1,987
2,878
Sep
513
611
3,237
2,601
Oct
463
594
3,516
3,055
Nov
395
576
5,023
2,765
Dec
Table 3: Registered New Homes in Multi-unit Buildings 3 , 2024 to 2025, Monthly
Enrolled New Homes in Multi- unit Buildings 10
Registered New Homes in Multi-Unit Buildings 3
Purpose-built Rental 5
Month
2025
2024
2025
2024
2025
2024
2,191
514
1,991
1,207
4,182
1,721
Jan
2,581
2,660
2,108
957
4,689
3,617
Feb
2,848
1,348
2,170
1,615
5,018
2,963
Mar
3,777
1,836
5,613
Apr
903
1,167
2,070
May
2,138
2,522
4,660
Jun
2,309
1,043
3,352
Jul
1,169
1,369
2,538
Aug
1,150
837
1,987
Sep
1,773
1,464
3,237
Oct
1,607
1,909
3,516
Nov
2,487
2,536
5,023
Dec
7
Table 4: Registered New Homes 1 by Regional District, March 2025
Registered New Single Detached Homes 2
Registered New Homes in Multi-unit Buildings 3
Total
Regional District
Number of Homes
Regional % Share of Provincial Total
Number of Homes
Regional % Share of Provincial Total
Number of Homes
Regional % Share of Provincial Total
6
1.0%
0
0.0%
6
0.1%
Alberni-Clayoquot
9
1.6%
8
0.2%
17
0.3%
Bulkley-Nechako
34
5.9%
444
8.8%
478
8.5%
Capital
18
3.1%
0
0.0%
18
0.3%
Cariboo
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
Central Coast
12
2.1%
8
0.2%
20
0.4%
Central Kootenay
25
4.4%
269
5.4%
294
5.3%
Central Okanagan
25
4.4%
16
0.3%
41
0.7%
Columbia-Shuswap
5
0.9%
100
2.0%
105
1.9%
Comox Valley
19
3.3%
123
2.5%
142
2.5%
Cowichan Valley
42
7.3%
35
0.7%
77
1.4%
East Kootenay
37
6.4%
230
4.6%
267
4.8%
Fraser Valley
20
3.5%
16
0.3%
36
0.6%
Fraser-Fort George
8
1.4%
0
0.0%
8
0.1%
Kitimat-Stikine
6
1.0%
35
0.7%
41
0.7%
Kootenay-Boundary
209
36.4%
3,513
70.0%
3,722
66.6%
Metro Vancouver
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
Mount Waddington
28
4.9%
18
0.4%
46
0.8%
Nanaimo
19
3.3%
48
1.0%
67
1.2%
North Okanagan
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
Northern Rockies
10
1.7%
12
0.2%
22
0.4%
Okanagan-Similkameen
3
0.5%
0
0.0%
3
0.1%
Peace River
3
0.5%
0
0.0%
3
0.1%
qathet
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
Skeena-Queen Charlotte
10
1.7%
0
0.0%
10
0.2%
Squamish-Lillooet
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
Stikine
7
1.2%
2
0.0%
9
0.2%
Strathcona
3
0.5%
0
0.0%
3
0.1%
Sunshine Coast
16
2.8%
141
2.8%
157
2.8%
Thompson-Nicola
574
100.0%
5,018
100.0%
5,592
100.0%
Total
8
Background and Methodology
End Notes
1 Registered new homes includes: single detached and multi-unit homes enrolled in home warranty insurance, single detached homes constructed by an owner builder not covered by home warranty insurance, and purpose-built rental units that are exempt from home warranty insurance. Before August 2016, calculations of registered new homes in this report excluded purpose-built rental units. 2 Registered new single detached homes includes new single detached homes enrolled with home warranty insurance or with Owner Builder Authorizations issued by the Registrar. 3 Registered new homes in multi-unit buildings (two or more dwelling units) include new homes enrolled with home warranty insurance and new homes in purpose-built rental buildings with a home warranty insurance exemption. Before August 2016, calculations of registered new homes in multi-unit buildings in this report excluded purpose-built rental units. 4 The trend analysis with moving average is based on a twelve-month and 36-month simple moving average of the monthly new home registration data. Data are not seasonally adjusted. 5 Purpose-built rental refers to new rental homes in multi-unit buildings that qualify for exemption from home warranty insurance. These exempted homes must be constructed for rental purposes, including social housing, and have a restrictive covenant registered on title restricting the sale of any dwelling unit for a 10-year period. Rental homes with a covenant may however be captured under “enrolled new multi- unit homes” if the unit is voluntarily enrolled with home warranty insurance. 6 Selected cities are the 10 cities that had the highest numbers of registered new homes in the reference month. 7 The five regional districts with the highest numbers of registered new homes in the reference month. 8 Owner-built homes refers to Owner Builder Authorizations issued by the Registrar. New homes built under an Owner Builder Authorization are exempt from licensing and home warranty insurance. 9 Selected cities are the 10 cities that had the highest numbers of registered single detached homes in Metro Vancouver in 2024. 10 Enrolled new multi-unit homes refers to new homes in multi-unit buildings (two or more dwelling units) enrolled with home warranty insurance. 11 Building size is measured by number of dwelling units, which is equivalent to new homes. 12 In this report, the five year average is the average of the most recently completed five years.
BC Housing is responsible for the administration of the Homeowner Protection Act , with a mandate to help bring about improvements in the quality of residential construction and increase consumer protection for buyers of new homes in British Columbia (B.C.). Under the Act, all new homes in the province must be registered with BC Housing. The registration of new homes in the public registry must occur prior to the issuance of building permits and housing starts. The new homes registry data measures residential construction activities at the beginning of a project before construction commences. Therefore, information in the Monthly New Homes Registry Report is a leading indicator of housing activity in B.C. New home registration data is collected from Licensed Residential Builders and owner builders through the New Home Registration forms and Owner Builder Authorization applications. Over time, some minor adjustments may be made to the new home registration data as registrations are withdrawn or cancelled from home warranty insurance. This report provides information on registered new homes by building type, building size, and building location. Figures for registered new homes include both multi-unit and single detached new homes enrolled with home warranty insurance, Owner Builder Authorizations, and, since the August 2016 report, purpose-built rental buildings that are exempt from home warranty insurance. CSA-approved manufactured homes (modular homes, mobile homes and factory-built homes), floating homes, non-stratified hotels, motels, dormitories and care facilities are excluded from the definition of new home and are not reflected in the report. Geographical terms in this publication are based on Statistics Canada’s 2006 Census area. In February 2009, the regional district of Comox-Strathcona was replaced by two successor regional districts, Comox Valley and Strathcona. Research In collaboration with BC Housing, the Bank of Canada conducted a study in 2016 to assess whether or not new home registration data can be used as a leading indicator for economic activity in B.C. Study findings reveal that quarterly increases in new registrations for single detached homes have statistically significant predictive content for growth in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the next one to three quarters, providing stronger signals compared to housing starts and building permits over this forecast horizon. To view the report, go to the Staff Discussion Papers section on the Bank of Canada’s website.
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