When I first wrote about the Top 10 Land Deals in Metro Vancouver at the end of 2016, here is how I summarized the market:

“Residential development site sales in Metro Vancouver topped $4.5 Billion in 2016. It’s a staggering value only made possible by the confluence of a variety of local and international market forces including: incoming capital, a feverish residential real estate market, and a perceived lack of quality land available for sale. Each of these factors seemed to create the perfect storm in late 2015 and early to mid-2016 and have played a large part in driving land values to record highs.”

Nine years later, market conditions could hardly be more different. Capital is now scarce with few new entrants to our market, the pre-sale condo market is basically frozen, rental rents are finally plateauing amid rising completions and vacancy, and years late policy measures to increase housing supply has flooded the market with density in many areas.

But deals are still getting done. Some are strategic, some are opportunistic, some are long-term visionary.

Here’s a look at each of the 10 largest land deals in Metro Vancouver this year:

1. 1371 McKeen Avenue, North Vancouver

• Price:                  $143 Million
• Site Area:            28 acres
• Vendor:               Wesbild
• Purchaser:          Dream Industrial REIT & GIC

The goods:        For the second year in a row, the top land sale was an industrial site in North Vancouver. This waterfront industrial site on McKeen had previously been contemplated for an industrial subdivision and redevelopment but was rejected by the District of North Vancouver. The Property is currently occupied by multiple industrial tenants, totaling approx. 860,000 SF of rentable area. GIC is a Singapore based sovereign wealth fund.

The sale was brokered by CBRE’s National Investment Team.

2. Renfrew & Broadway Land Assembly

• Price:                  $100 Million
• Site Area:           3.1 Acres
• Vendor:              Land Assembly
• Purchaser:          Sightline Properties

The goods:      Sightline Properties completed this residential land assembly of 26 single family lots comprising two full city blocks on East Broadway and Kaslo Street in early 2025.

The site is located in the Rupert Renfrew Station Area Plan that was passed by Vancouver city council in 2025. Sightline subsequently submitted a rezoning application for the assembled site in June 2025, which calls for four towers up to 45-storeys, and 1,959 residential units including 1,386 condo units.   

3. 9150 Bentley Street, Vancouver

• Price:                   $62.9 Million
• Site Area:            5.1 acres
• Vendor:               Southgate Holdings Ltd.
• Purchaser:           Translink

The goods:        Translink acquired this site that they had previously leased next to their bus operations and maintenance centre in South Vancouver, to the West of the Arthur Laing Bridge.

4. 13200 Rice Mill Road, Richmond

• Price:                   $52 Million
• Site Area:            10.4 acres
• Vendor:            Jim Pattison Group
• Purchaser:           Provincial Government (BC Transportation Financing Authority)

The goods:        This was a strategic acquisition by the Province as a staging area for the construction of the Fraser River Tunnel Project.

5. 10387 Nordel Court, Delta

• Price:                   $39 Million
• Site Area:            14.9 acres
• Vendor:              Private Investor
• Purchaser:           Choice Properties REIT

6. 1485 Davie Street, Vancouver

• Price:                  $38.5 Million
• Site Area:           26,000 SF
• Vendor:             Court Ordered Sale
• Purchaser: Openform Properties

The goods:          This West End rental tower development site was previously slated for redevelopment by Align Properties before foreclosure proceedings were initiated by Bancorp in 2023. Openform was ultimately successful in buying the site in court in a structured deal with the site value at $38.5 million.

7. 1233 Derwent Way, Delta

• Price:                  $37.2 Million
• Site Area:           4.8 acres
• Vendor:              Private Investor
• Purchaser: Metro Vancouver

The goods:       Another strategic government purchase, Metro Vancouver bought this property on Annacis Island in March 2025 to allow for future expansion of the wastewater treatment plant. 

8. 1390 Sharpewood Drive, Coquitlam

• Price:                 $37 Million
• Site Area:          4.7 acres
• Vendor:             Gemex Development
• Purchaser:    Qualico    

The goods:         In August 2025, Qualico completed on the acquisition of this 4.7 acre site in Coquitlam for a new single-family subdivision, now branded as “Sharpewood Hills” a collection of 39 single family homes under their Foxridge Homes brand.

9. 2268 West 3rd Avenue, Vancouver

• Price:                  $31 Million
• Site Area:           21,000 SF
• Vendor:              Private Investor
• Purchaser:  Marcon

The goods:        In September, Marcon completed on the acquisition of this 21,000 SF Broadway Plan rental tower site at West 3^rd Avenue and Vine Street in Kits. The site has an active rezoning application for a 22-storey rental tower including 207 rental units.

10. 2308-2388 128^th Street, Surrey

• Price:                 $27.1 Million
• Site Area:           5.7 acres
• Vendor:              Private Investor
• Purchaser:          Qualico

The goods:       It’s second acquisition on this year’s list, Qualico picked up a 5.7 acre land assembly in South Surrey.

Joe Varing of Varing Marketing Group represented the Vendor.

Some notes from the above list:

• 5 of 10 were residential land deals
• 3 of the 10 sales were government buyers

How does 2025 compare to previous years? The total dollar value for the above 10 deals was $570 Million, well below the 10-year average of $909 Million.

Here’s the ‘Top 10’ list broken down by year:

Please contact me for further information on any of the above transactions, or if any questions, comments, or corrections to the article.

Happy Holidays!

The District of West Vancouver has given first reading to a final draft of the Ambleside Centre Local Area Plan (LAP).

The Ambleside LAP has been in the works since early 2022, and has gone through multiple rounds of public engagement and refinement by planning staff. The affected area is generally along Marine Drive from 13th to 18th Streets.

Here are the recommended land use policies:

• Zoning updates to allow 3-4 storeys on most lots in the LAP, including on small lots
• Five sites designated ‘Waterfront’ along Bellevue West of 15th allowing taller forms through rezoning
• Four sites along parts of Clyde and Duchess allowing taller forms through rezoning

The LAP will go for public hearing in June and if approved, would form part of the OCP shortly thereafter.

A presentation on the Ambleside LAP can be viewed here: https://westvancouver.ca/media/6103

The City of New Westminster is exploring further changes to its Lower Twelfth Street area plan, with an ongoing study now being considered by council following on earlier work from 2024.

Current objectives include:

• Confirmation of the Official Community Plan vision for the mix of “ultra-light” uses
  supported by residential in the Lower Twelfth area.
• Endorsement of the neighbourhood massing approach, that would see the highest buildings closer to Downtown transitioning down to the lower density edges of the study area.
• Exploring changing the Official Community Plan designation of some properties outside but adjacent to the study area.

Next steps:

1. Completion of Additional Studies (Summer 2025) and report back to Council on implications to Lower Twelfth area study
2. Public and Nations Engagement (anticipated Fall 2025)
3. Council Approval of the Evaluation Framework (anticipated Winter 2025/2026)

The full presentation can be viewed here: https://pub-newwestcity.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=21572

The City of Vancouver has released a report outlining the next phases of planning for the ‘Village’ areas identified in the adopted 2022 Vancouver Plan.

The Vancouver Plan identified 25 Village areas, primarily centred on existing smaller commercial centres around arterial intersections throughout the City, for increased density and expanded commercial area.

Geographic Scope

Eight of the Village areas are now identified to be part of alternative or future planning work, including:

• Three full and two partial Villages will be reviewed in the Rupert and Renfrew Station Area planning program;
• Three Villages will be incorporated into a future area planning program for Main and Fraser Streets, including Punjabi Market;
• One Village (Yew Street / West 1st Avenue) will be incorporated into future planning for neighbourhood centres; and
• One Village (Knight Street / East 57th Avenue) is identified in the Vancouver Plan as a Special Study Area and will need to be considered through a future planning program.

The remaining 17 villages are identified in blue on the map below:

Rezoning Potential

The planning focus is on enabling “missing middle” and housing “up to 6-storeys”, with a focus on rental and below-market rental housing where economically feasible. In addition, the program will maintain or enable expansion of zoning permitting mixed-use buildings that deliver additional commercial space in Villages.

The City anticipates the majority of sites will be rezoned through city initiated rezonings, rather than on a site by site basis.

Interim rezonings will generally not be considered unless it involves social housing or seniors housing.

Timeline

The planning work for the Villages is expected to take approximately 18 months, with a Final Land Use Plan presented to Council in Q1 or Q2 2026.

The full report can be viewed here: https://council.vancouver.ca/20241022/documents/r1.pdf

The City of Vancouver will consider a recommendation to makes changes to the West End Rezoning Policy regarding social housing requirements.

The report indicates the following recommended changes in Areas 1 & 2 of the West End Plan (depicted below):

• Reducing the inclusionary social housing requirements 25% of the residential floor area to 20% or one-for-one replacement of the existing rental housing, whichever is greater
• Introducing a cash-in-lieu option that reflects the costs for the City to deliver such social housing offsite, including land and construction, which will be determined on a case-by case basis through the rezoning process.

The reduction to the inclusionary social housing requirement is recommended as an interim measure for two years until December 31, 2026, or until adoption of a new Inclusionary Zoning By-law that would supersede this rezoning policy.

Three projects have been approved for rezoning with the 25% social housing but have not yet started construction. These projects would require a new application to be granted the reduction.

The full report can be viewed here: https://council.vancouver.ca/20240924/documents/r1.pdf