A Metro Vancouver half duplex costs about $651,000 more than a townhouse. Here is what that buys, from ownership and strata fees to GST, warranty and the roof you split two ways.
Written by Hamidreza Etebarian on
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A half duplex in Metro Vancouver lists at a median of $1,550,000 right now, and a townhouse lists at about $899,000. That $651,000 gap is the first number in any duplex vs townhouse decision in BC. The duplex usually buys you a bigger, newer home with one neighbour instead of a whole complex, but it also changes your fees, your insurance and who pays for the roof. These figures come from 951 active half duplex listings and 3,114 townhouse listings on Zealty on October 28, 2026. This guide compares ownership, price by city, monthly costs and the checks to run before you write an offer in British Columbia.
On the BC MLS, a half duplex is one of two homes that share a wall, side by side or up and down. Most are registered as a two-lot strata under the Strata Property Act, so each owner holds title to their own strata lot and the two of them make up the strata corporation.
Some older duplexes sit on a single title instead, owned by two parties as tenants in common with a private co-ownership agreement that says who lives on which side. Fewer lenders finance that structure, so ask your mortgage broker about it before you fall for the house.
A townhouse is usually one strata lot in a complex of many, run by an elected strata council and often a property manager, with its own bylaws and an annual budget. Both are strata property in most cases. What differs is scale: in a duplex, two neighbours decide everything together, while in a townhouse complex a council decides and the owners vote.
Median asking prices for active listings on October 28, 2026, with the number of listings in brackets:
Vancouver alone has 488 of the 951 half duplexes for sale in Metro Vancouver, just over half. Surrey is the opposite case, with seven townhouses listed for every duplex. Vancouver has the smallest gap at $359,200, because its townhouses are expensive too. In Burnaby, the step from townhouse to duplex costs $751,000.
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The extra money buys space. The middle half duplex in Metro Vancouver has about 1,830 square feet, against about 1,496 for the middle townhouse.
It also costs more per square foot. The median half duplex asks $896 per square foot and the median townhouse $595. Part of that is location, since so many duplexes are in Vancouver and Burnaby. Part of it is age, which is the next difference.
Of the 951 half duplexes listed in Metro Vancouver, 708 (74%) are five years old or newer. For townhouses the share is 924 of 3,114 (30%). Much of the duplex supply is new construction that replaced an older single-family house.
A new home brings tax and warranty questions that a resale does not. The federal GST applies to the sale of a newly built home, while most previously occupied homes are exempt (Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST New Housing Rebate guide RC4028, 2026). Eligible first-time buyers can recover up to $50,000 of that GST on a new home valued at $1 million or less through the federal First-Time Home Buyers' GST rebate, with the rebate reduced between $1 million and $1.5 million and gone above $1.5 million (CRA, current October 2026). The median Metro Vancouver half duplex, at $1,550,000, sits above that ceiling. Surrey's median of $1,299,000 would qualify for only part of it.
New homes in BC built by a licensed residential builder carry home warranty insurance under BC's Homeowner Protection Act: two years on materials and labour (shorter for some items), five years on the building envelope, including water getting in, and ten years on structural defects (BC Housing, current September 2026). Ask for the warranty certificate and confirm the start date. Our guide to new build vs resale in BC covers both in more detail.
A townhouse complex charges a monthly strata fee that pays for management, landscaping, building insurance and the contingency reserve fund. Our breakdown of strata fees in BC shows what a typical fee covers and the red flags to look for.
A two-lot duplex strata often charges a small fee or none, and the two owners run it themselves. That does not remove the insurance duty. Under section 149 of BC's Strata Property Act, the strata corporation must insure the buildings on the strata plan at full replacement value (BC Laws, current October 2026). Two separate homeowner policies are not the same thing, so ask to see the corporation's policy.
Reserves are where duplexes get thin. Section 6.22 of BC's Strata Property Regulation exempts a strata corporation with fewer than 5 strata lots from the depreciation report requirement (BC Laws, current October 2026). Many duplex stratas therefore have no long-range repair plan and little in the reserve fund. When the roof needs replacing, two owners split the bill. A larger townhouse complex usually has a depreciation report you can read before you buy.
Decisions work differently too. With two owners there is no majority, so a disagreement over a repair can stall. Ask whether the owners have amended the standard bylaws or signed any side agreement about shared costs.
A third option is growing. BC's small-scale multi-unit housing rules require most municipalities to permit 3 to 4 units on lots zoned for single-family or duplex use, with bylaws due by June 30, 2024 (Province of British Columbia, 2024). Small multiplex stratas built under those rules sit between a duplex and a townhouse complex, with a few owners, a small strata and often no depreciation report.
For a townhouse complex, use the Strata Browser to look up the building, then follow our guide to assessing a strata building before you buy. The same questions apply to a duplex strata, just with two owners instead of fifty.
In the duplex vs townhouse choice in BC, about $651,000 more in Metro Vancouver buys roughly 330 extra square feet, a home that is probably under five years old, and one neighbour instead of a council. It also means managing the building yourselves, with a thin reserve and a roof you split two ways. Search half duplexes and townhouses on the Zealty map and compare what each type has actually sold for in your target neighbourhood before you decide.
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Speak with a lawyer or notary about title and strata documents before you remove subjects.
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