Detached home ownership in Metro Vancouver becoming 'more of a unicorn,' according to report

Are detached homes becoming out of reach? The dream of owning a house with a fence and a yard in Vancouver is becoming so hard it’s being called a unicorn.

A new report from Re/Max shows it's becoming increasingly unrealistic for most people to buy a detached home in Metro Vancouver.

“What we found was that the single-family detached is becoming more and more of a unicorn,” said Christopher Alexander, president of Re/Max Canada.

“Especially considering the investment that homeowners that are in them already have made to improve the properties.”

Alexander says factors including densification and gentrification have also contributed to the rising costs.

According to the report, detached homes in Metro Vancouver saw nearly a 38% increase in value from 2019 to 2023.

Experts say the detached housing supply is likely going to take another hit due to new provincial rules pushing for more density. In recent months, more and more signs advertising "land assembly opportunities" have popped up in neighbourhoods close to transit centres. These signs are linked to new zoning rules allowing people to build multiple units on land previously zoned for a single-family detached home.

“As we knock down those older homes that are in, you know, we'll call it a more affordable price range than what a brand new construction in the same location would be, it ends up giving us a lower supply out there for people,” said Tim Hill, a real estate advisor based in Vancouver.

Tsur Somerville, a housing and economics professor at UBC, suggests the region’s landscape and population boom have put the province in a tough spot.

“B.C. is a challenging place to do a sprawl because we've got mountains and water and that kind of limits where you can sprawl,” said Somerville, adding that building up instead of out is the more practical solution.

“And now it's increasingly the richer people who are ending up in that single-family housing, and that accelerates the price increase there. And so you get more affordable housing, but less affordable single-family housing.”

Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley believes the province’s housing policies lack balance.

“I think the signal from the province is detached homes are on the way out,” Hurley told CTV News. “I think if you look around Burnaby, we haven’t shied away from building. But it needs to be done in an organized fashion.”

The Re/Max report suggests that maximizing square footage and density on existing lots will continue to be a growing trend.