District of North Vancouver council has adopted a new zoning bylaw that simplifies the process for building new single-family homes and makes some significant changes to their form.

Perhaps the biggest shift is removing the exemption of basements from new homes’ total allowable square footage and compensating with higher height limits of up to 38 feet or three storeys.

Broadly speaking, council is looking to make houses of the future more livable, environmentally friendly and cheaper to build.

In addition to being the most costly and carbon-intensive parts of a home’s construction, basements also disrupt the natural water table and kill tree root systems leading to more flooding. They’re also where secondary suites are most likely to be located, putting renters in dark, damp quarters.

Garages will also lose their exemption from floor space allowances and the bylaw increases the maximum size of coach houses.

Importantly, the new zoning will apply to almost all of the 20,000 or so single-family properties in the district, replacing a patchwork of rules for different neighbourhoods.

At a public hearing in June, council heard from supporters as well as residents who worried the scope of the changes was too large with taller homes being hindrances to privacy and sunlight. Several said the public hadn’t been adequately consulted.

Coun. Betty Forbes, who voted against the bylaw at third reading on July 13, said council had moved too quickly without considering how the zoning would affect the properties of today’s residents.

“I’m worried that this is just going to destroy neighbourhoods in the short run, maybe long run. It’s going to remove the character. And I would rather have seen us still keep the neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood mentality,” she said.

Coun. Lisa Muri also said council didn’t have a solid enough understand of the bylaw’s implications and predicted worse outcomes for stormwater management.

“We’re going to take our knocks when those are realized,” she said.

For others, the changes don’t go far enough.

“Personally, I would have preferred bylaws that prohibited basements, given the environmental harms of basements with all of the concrete used and the encroachments on the water table,” said Coun. Jim Hanson.” Having said that, I believe these are a step in the right direction.”

Coun. Herman Mah acknowledged the tradeoffs that come with the new zoning but he expressed hope the streamlined process would make new homes more affordable.

“We have listened and heard the community’s feedback. I think staff had to balance many perspectives from the community, the desired environmental outcomes and consider the goals of this council. I think they did a very good job,” he said. “Some may feel different and it may not be perfect, but it’s good and we need to move forward.”

Mayor Mike Little said the biggest benefit will be cleaning up the “great big spaghetti mess” of regulations across the district’s single-family zones that had been the source of conflicts with the planning department.

But with construction costs for houses around $500-per square foot on top of land costs, Little said nothing in the bylaw is going to make single-family neighbourhoods affordable again.

“If you want affordability, it’s going to be in town centres properly supported by transit and properly built with purpose-built rental plans and condominium strata plans that can produce units at about half the dollar-per-square foot rate than you can see when you’re building single-family homes,” he said.

Demand for all home types in Metro Vancouver* increased to start the summer, with home sales up nearly ten per cent year-over-year in June.

The Greater Vancouver REALTORS® (GVR) reports that residential sales in the region totalled 2,390 in June 2026, a 9.6 per cent increase from the 2,181 sales recorded in June 2025. This was 12.4 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average (2,728).

“June saw a pattern of broad gains in home sales across all home types relative to the same time last year, which has been a rare occurrence in recent years,” said Andrew Lis, GVR chief economist and vice-president data analytics. “June’s data could be an early sign of a shift in the market. In recent years, sales trends have usually been mixed across home types, which is typical of a sideways trending market. But with all housing types posting gains in June, the data indicate demand may be returning to the market more broadly.”

There were 5,938 detached, attached and apartment properties newly listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Metro Vancouver in June 2026. This represents a six per cent decrease compared to the 6,315 properties listed in June 2025. This was 5.9 per cent above the 10-year seasonal average (5,609).

The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS® system in Metro Vancouver is 17,017, a 3.1 per cent decrease compared to June 2025 (17,561). This is 30.2 per cent above the 10-year seasonal average (13,070).

Across all detached, attached and apartment property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for June 2026 is 14.6 per cent. By property type, the ratio is 12 per cent for detached homes, 17.8 per cent for attached, and 15.5 per cent for apartments.

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.

“Despite signs that demand is slowly returning to the market, prices haven’t moved much in recent months as the inventory of homes for sale has been big enough to absorb the increased demand,” Lis said. “Prices typically trend upwards when demand rises and inventory declines. With recent data revealing a slower pace of new listings coming to market, standing inventory is no longer climbing, and may be showing early signs of reversing. It’s still too early to call, but if the current pattern of rising demand and slower new listings continues, we may see a sustained downtrend in inventory over the coming months.”

The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $1,099,100. This represents a 6 per cent decrease over June 2025 and a 0.1 per cent decrease compared to May 2026.

Sales of detached homes in June 2026 reached 747, a 13.7 per cent increase from the 657 detached sales recorded in June 2025. The benchmark price for a detached home is $1,842,900. This represents a 7.1 per cent decrease from June 2025 and a 0.3 per cent decrease compared to May 2026.

Sales of apartment homes reached 1,103 in June 2026, a 6.1 per cent increase compared to the 1,040 sales in June 2025. The benchmark price of an apartment home is $695,200. This represents a 7.1 per cent decrease from June 2025 and a 0.4 per cent decrease compared to May 2026.

Attached home sales in June 2026 totalled 527, a 11.4 per cent increase compared to the 473 sales in June 2025. The benchmark price of a townhouse is $1,046,200. This represents a 5 per cent decrease from June 2025 and a 0.2 per cent decrease compared to May 2026.

Download GVR's June 2026 MLS® Residential Market Report.