One of the market narratives at this point in the development cycle is that, as an industry, we’ve built too many “shoe box condos” and that what people really want are more family-sized homes.
Now here’s some data from BC (via The Globe and Mail):
As of the end of the third quarter of 2026, the Lower Mainland had 5,770 completed but unsold condos either in high-rise concrete buildings or low-rise wood-frame buildings. That total consists of 177 studio units, 88 junior one-bedroom units, 1,859 one-bedroom units, 2,865 two-bedroom units, 598 three-bedroom units, and 32 four-bedroom units. (The remaining 151 units could not be classified.)
The region is also home to 1,253 completed unsold townhouses, the vast majority of which have two or more bedrooms.
What this means is that over 66% of the standing inventory in the Lower Mainland is what one could call “family-sized housing” — in other words, they are homes with 2 or more bedrooms. This suggests that the prevailing narrative isn’t entirely accurate.
The reality is that small condominiums and apartments exist because they are a natural market response to scarce land and high development cost structures.
This is why simply mandating larger suites doesn’t solve the problem, nor does offering more “family-friendly” floor plan designs. Both ignore the more fundamental issue: large suites are expensive to build.
I would also assume that some buyers are now substituting single-family houses for condos. I’m seeing that in Toronto. Whatever the exact situation, the answer isn’t as simple as too many small suites. In fact, based on the above figures, those are the ones that sold first.
True market preferences will only reveal themselves when we lower the structural cost of building new housing and permit a variety of different building types.
Leave a Reply