# Squamish is building quickly, but townhouses are still bucking the market Squamish is building quickly, but the homes being added do not relieve every part of the market equally. The District recorded 160 completions in six months and reached 95.6% of its first-year target after demolitions, yet only 37 completed homes had three or more bedrooms. By August, the townhouse benchmark was up 1.8% from a year earlier while detached and apartment benchmarks were down 6.3% and 7.5%. Retained detached-market snapshots add a less obvious signal: active listings fell from 110 in June to 74 in September, but average days on market rose from 23 to 38. Supply was becoming scarcer without creating faster sales. Published 2026-09-06. Sources checked 2026-09-08. ## Townhouses are the exception in a soft market August's benchmarks separate Squamish into three distinct markets. Detached homes were valued at $1,592,700, down 6.3% over the year, while apartments were $571,500, down 7.5%. Townhouses were the outlier at $1,009,100, up 1.8%. Townhouse performance was therefore 8.1 percentage points ahead of detached homes and 9.3 points ahead of apartments. It also beat the Greater Vancouver townhouse benchmark, which fell 4.5%, by 6.3 points. [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf) The surrounding market was weak. Greater Vancouver sales in August were 20.7% below the ten-year seasonal average, while active listings were 26.2% above it. GVR pointed to slower immigration, reduced investor demand and mortgage rates that had not fallen enough to revive demand. Squamish's detached and apartment declines fit that regional picture. Its townhouse gain does not. [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf) Canada's seasonally adjusted sales rose for a fourth month in July, but actual transactions remained 5.3% below July 2025 and BC sales were down 6.7%. The national rebound did not reach every market evenly. In Squamish, the label 'soft market' hides materially different trends for detached, apartment and townhouse sellers. The townhouse result is consistent with families preserving bedroom space by moving down from detached homes, although buyer motives are not reported. [CREA July 2026 housing statistics](https://stats.crea.ca/en-ca/) [BCREA July 2026 market activity](https://www.bcrea.bc.ca/economics/housing-market-activity-uneven-across-bc-regions/) [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf) ## Fewer detached listings did not mean a faster market Four retained captures of the same Squamish detached-home page reveal a change that no single edition shows. On June 7, the rolling 30-day snapshot showed seven sales, 110 active listings, a 6.4% absorption rate and 23 average days on market. The June 30 and July 6 captures both showed 11 sales, while active listings fell from 100 to 92 and days on market held at 27. By September 3, the page showed eight sales, 74 active listings, a 10.8% absorption rate and 38 days on market. [Squamish detached-home market snapshots](https://www.bccondosandhomes.com/houses/squamish) A rising absorption rate usually sounds bullish, but the underlying numbers tell a more cautious story. From the first capture to the last, active inventory fell 32.7%, sales increased by only one, and average time to sell rose 65.2%. The rate improved by 4.4 percentage points as the listing pool shrank much faster than sales changed. Buyers faced less choice, but the homes that sold did not move faster. [Squamish detached-home market snapshots](https://www.bccondosandhomes.com/houses/squamish) The archive does not identify why listings disappeared, and these publisher snapshots are smaller and noisier than the board's annual benchmark series. Even so, the pattern sharpens the August GVR result: the detached benchmark was down 6.3% year over year while selection was tightening and selling time was lengthening. Scarcity alone was not a reason for a buyer to rush, and fewer competing listings did not eliminate the need for a seller to price carefully. [Squamish detached-home market snapshots](https://www.bccondosandhomes.com/houses/squamish) [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf) ## The construction headline is bigger than the family-home gain Between September 1, 2025 and February 28, 2026, Squamish recorded 160 completions and seven demolitions, leaving 153 net additions. In half a year, the District had delivered 95.6% of its first-year target and 14.3% of its five-year target. An occupancy permit records a completed home, but does not say whether it is for sale, for rent or already committed. [Squamish six-month housing delivery report](https://squamish.civicweb.net/FileStorage/AC53CB471F944DEB9F17148029077865-Annual%20Housing%20Update%20-%20Report%20to%20Council.pdf) [District housing target](https://squamish.ca/projects-plans-and-initiatives/projects-and-initiatives/housing/housing-target-order/) Only 37 of the 160 completed homes had three or more bedrooms, or 23.1% of the total. The District's net estimate is 30 because all seven demolitions were assigned to the grouped three-plus-bedroom row when bedroom counts were unavailable. The clean count for new larger homes is 37. Even on that gross measure, fewer than one in four completions offered family-sized space. [Squamish six-month housing delivery report](https://squamish.civicweb.net/FileStorage/AC53CB471F944DEB9F17148029077865-Annual%20Housing%20Update%20-%20Report%20to%20Council.pdf) Of the 153 net additions, 99 were ownership homes and 54 were rentals. The report does not match tenure to bedroom count or building type, so the 37 larger completions cannot be counted as townhouses for sale. The housing target measures delivery pace, but says little about the choice facing a family buyer. New three-plus-bedroom ownership completions and active townhouse listings are the more useful indicators. [Squamish six-month housing delivery report](https://squamish.civicweb.net/FileStorage/AC53CB471F944DEB9F17148029077865-Annual%20Housing%20Update%20-%20Report%20to%20Council.pdf) ## The price gap creates a powerful reason to choose a townhouse The benchmark gap between a Squamish detached home and a townhouse was $583,600 in August. With an assumed 20% down payment, the detached purchase requires $116,720 more cash up front and a mortgage that is $466,880 larger. At an illustrative 4% rate over 25 years, principal and interest would be about $6,702 a month for the detached benchmark and $4,246 for the townhouse benchmark. The $2,456 difference excludes tax, insurance, maintenance and strata fees. [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf) A million-dollar townhouse is not inexpensive, but the comparison shows why townhouses can retain demand when detached prices weaken. For a household that needs several bedrooms, changing property type can alter the payment far more than a modest rate move. On an $800,000 mortgage, moving from 4% to 4.5% adds about $220 a month under the same assumptions. The townhouse-detached comparison changes it by more than ten times that amount. [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf) The Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.25% on September 2, while long-term bond yields had risen since July. Because fixed mortgage pricing depends partly on bond yields and lender funding costs, the rate hold does not guarantee cheaper fixed mortgages. The working theory is that financing pressure is changing what some Squamish families buy before it changes whether those households buy. That would help explain resilient townhouses beside falling detached values; buyer-flow data would test the theory. [Bank of Canada: September rate decision](https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2026/09/fad-press-release-2026-09-02/) [Bank of Canada: mortgage pricing](https://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/remarks-2024-11-06.pdf) [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf) ## Today's completions do not guarantee tomorrow's ownership supply Garibaldi Estates illustrates the difference between long-range capacity and near-term inventory. Its neighbourhood plan sets a twenty-year direction for housing diversity and infill around Garibaldi Village. Buyers in the next year, however, will be affected by projects that already have zoning, approvals, financing and construction progress. The plan can shape future choice, but it is not imminent competition for today's listings. [Garibaldi Estates neighbourhood planning](https://squamish.ca/projects-plans-and-initiatives/projects-and-initiatives/project/garibaldi-estates-neighbourhood-planning-process/) CMHC reported that rental construction drove Canada's 2025 housing starts higher, while weak condominium presales threatened future ownership supply, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto. Squamish's recent completions leaned toward ownership, with 99 net ownership homes and 54 rentals. Starts and completions describe different development stages, so strong delivery over the past six months does not ensure that the next projects will have the same tenure mix. [CMHC: ownership and rental construction](https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/media-newsroom/news-releases/2026/spring-2026-housing-supply-report) [Squamish six-month housing delivery report](https://squamish.civicweb.net/FileStorage/AC53CB471F944DEB9F17148029077865-Annual%20Housing%20Update%20-%20Report%20to%20Council.pdf) The next risk is a poor handoff from completed projects to the ownership pipeline. If weak presales spread from Metro Vancouver to Squamish, the 2025-26 completion pace could be followed by fewer homes for buyers. That shift is not visible in the cited local records and is not part of the base forecast. Local ownership presales, construction starts and approval milestones will show whether it begins. [CMHC: ownership and rental construction](https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/media-newsroom/news-releases/2026/spring-2026-housing-supply-report) [Squamish six-month housing delivery report](https://squamish.civicweb.net/FileStorage/AC53CB471F944DEB9F17148029077865-Annual%20Housing%20Update%20-%20Report%20to%20Council.pdf) ## Forecast: townhouses keep a relative edge through September 2027 The base case for the next six to twelve months is that Squamish's townhouse benchmark continues to perform better year over year than its detached and apartment benchmarks. Townhouse prices do not have to keep rising; a smaller decline would also fit the forecast. The case rests on the current 8.1-point advantage over detached homes, the 9.3-point advantage over apartments, the payment incentive to choose townhouses and the limited share of larger homes in recent completions. [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf) [Squamish six-month housing delivery report](https://squamish.civicweb.net/FileStorage/AC53CB471F944DEB9F17148029077865-Annual%20Housing%20Update%20-%20Report%20to%20Council.pdf) The forecast assumes stable local employment, no sharp fall in mortgage costs that expands detached-home budgets, and no large increase in family-sized ownership completions. BCREA expects provincial sales to rise 7.5% in 2027, providing a plausible path to more transactions. More sales need not restore equal pricing power across property types while regional inventory remains elevated and townhouses occupy the middle of Squamish's family-home market. [BCREA third-quarter housing forecast](https://www.bcrea.bc.ca/economics/housing-forecast_/) [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf) [Bank of Canada: September rate decision](https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2026/09/fad-press-release-2026-09-02/) Three consecutive GVR reports showing townhouses performing worse year over year than detached homes would overturn the call. A surge in unsold townhouses or completed three-plus-bedroom ownership homes would weaken the supply explanation even if the benchmark gap persisted. Until then, agents should treat townhouses as a distinct segment and should not infer easier family-home conditions from Squamish's citywide completion total. [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf) [Squamish six-month housing delivery report](https://squamish.civicweb.net/FileStorage/AC53CB471F944DEB9F17148029077865-Annual%20Housing%20Update%20-%20Report%20to%20Council.pdf) ## Evidence and forecast record Claim-level sources, calculations, assumptions, counter-evidence and review details for this article. [Observations, calculations and forecast record](/markets/bc/squamish-housing-supply-neighbourhood-planning.evidence.json) ## Sources - [GVR August 2026 market report](https://members.gvrealtors.ca/news/GVR-Stats-Package-August-2026.pdf): Released September 2, 2026. August MLS HPI tables, PDF pages 3-4. Benchmarks represent typical properties, not average sale prices. - [CREA July 2026 housing statistics](https://stats.crea.ca/en-ca/): Released August 18, 2026. July monthly sales comparison and unadjusted year-over-year comparison; this URL changes with each release. - [BCREA July 2026 market activity](https://www.bcrea.bc.ca/economics/housing-market-activity-uneven-across-bc-regions/): Released August 13, 2026. July sales compared with July 2025. - [Bank of Canada: September rate decision](https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2026/09/fad-press-release-2026-09-02/): September 2, 2026 decision. Policy rate and economic assessment are dated observations. - [Bank of Canada: mortgage pricing](https://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/remarks-2024-11-06.pdf): November 6, 2024 speech explaining Canadian mortgage pricing. Used for the financing mechanism, not a current rate quote. - [Squamish six-month housing delivery report](https://squamish.civicweb.net/FileStorage/AC53CB471F944DEB9F17148029077865-Annual%20Housing%20Update%20-%20Report%20to%20Council.pdf): March 24, 2026 council report, attachment 3. Reporting period September 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026. Tables on PDF pages 13-14; bedroom grouping and assumed demolition sizes in footnotes on page 19. Percentages are Aurynge calculations. - [District housing target](https://squamish.ca/projects-plans-and-initiatives/projects-and-initiatives/housing/housing-target-order/): First target year began September 1, 2025. Target figures are separate from delivered homes. - [Garibaldi Estates neighbourhood planning](https://squamish.ca/projects-plans-and-initiatives/projects-and-initiatives/project/garibaldi-estates-neighbourhood-planning-process/): Checked September 6, 2026. Describes a twenty-year planning vision. - [CMHC: ownership and rental construction](https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/media-newsroom/news-releases/2026/spring-2026-housing-supply-report): Published March 11, 2026; describes 2025 construction. Vancouver findings are regional context, not measured Sea-to-Sky starts. - [BCREA third-quarter housing forecast](https://www.bcrea.bc.ca/economics/housing-forecast_/): Published August 20, 2026. A provincial forecast for 2026-2027, issued before the September 2 Bank of Canada assessment. - [Squamish detached-home market snapshots](https://www.bccondosandhomes.com/houses/squamish): Four retained versions dated June 7, June 30, July 6 and September 3, 2026. Rolling 30-day detached-home statistics from one stable publisher URL. The publisher states that listing data is based in whole or in part on GVR and FVREB data. Prepared by Aurynge with AI-assisted research and writing. See /methodology for the evidence and publication policy.