Metro’s new housing supply continues to shift towards higher‑density forms, with apartments accounting for the majority of new starts and completions across the region.

That’s according to a new report for the district’s Regional Planning Committee on the Metro Vancouver Housing Data Dashboard, summarizing a large collection of regional and municipal‑level housing data from a variety of sources.

It replaces the hard copy Metro Vancouver Housing Data Book and provides policy makers, researchers and the public with a comprehensive and more accessible view of the region’s housing market, the report explains.

The 2026 update also includes new information on housing construction, rental and ownership housing, as well as housing needs.

The report notes apartment starts consistently accounted for 60% to 80% of all new housing starts, increasing from 16,899 units in 2016 to 21,844 units in 2025.

In contrast, single-detached starts have declined sharply and steadily, from 5,169 units in 2016 to 2,138 units in 2025, which is a decrease of about 60%..

Among the other key highlights of the update, overall, housing starts have declined in recent years.

However, housing completions reached a record high in 2025, reflecting projects initiated earlier in the development cycle coming online.

Housing starts fell from 33,244 in 2023, to 28,112 in 2024, and 27,185 in 2025.

Purpose‑built rental housing has continued to expand, with rental vacancy rates rising to 3.7% in 2025, the highest level observed in more than three decades, the report notes.

Rents, though, continued to rise across the region, though the pace of increase slowed compared to recent peak years.

Among the other findings, rental condominiums are growing at a much faster rate than the total stock of condominiums across Metro Vancouver.

The overall condominium stock grew 21.4% from 2020 to 2025, while the rental condominiums grew 38.8%, which is nearly double the pace.

The City of Delta earlier this year released its own Housing Snapshot, a map giving residents an opportunity to get a grasp of higher density developments that are under review, under construction or have recently been completed since the new Official Community Plan was approved nearly two years ago.

At the time, the city noted it had issued building permits for more than 1,200 units that were under or close to construction, while council had given third readings for approximately 2,000 apartment and townhouse units and welcomed the completion of 282 non-market rental apartment units.

Much Fewer Detached Houses Being Built in Metro Vancouver by Sandor Gyarmati | BIV