First-Time Buyers' Share of Home Purchases by City: Metro Vancouver at 19% in 2026

19.0%: Metro Vancouver: share of residential transfers that claimed BC's first-time home buyers' exemption, January to September 2026 Source: BC Property Taxation Branch (2026)

Key Takeaways

• 30.0% Share of New Westminster's residential transfers that claimed the first-time home buyers' exemption, January to September 2026: the highest of any Metro Vancouver city with 200 or more transfers. (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026)
• 1.5% Share of West Vancouver's residential transfers that claimed the first-time home buyers' exemption, January to September 2026: the lowest of those cities. (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026)
• 17.4% Metro Vancouver's first-time buyer exemption share for January to September 2025, the year before. (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2025)
• 19.7% British Columbia's first-time buyer exemption share for January to September 2026. (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026)
• 35.7% Burnaby's first-time buyer exemption share in September 2026, the latest month published. (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026)

19.0% of the residential property transfers registered in Metro Vancouver from January to September 2026 claimed BC's first-time home buyers' exemption: 6,120 of 32,219 transfers, according to the BC Property Taxation Branch, whose monthly property transfer tax data was last updated in early November (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026). Buyers priced out of the exemption and first-time buyers who use the newly built home exemption are not in that count, so the true first-time share is higher: read these figures as a floor. In the same months of 2025 the share was 17.4%, so first-time buyers are a slightly larger part of a smaller market.

The province publishes the counts city by city but not the share. We computed it for every Metro Vancouver municipality with at least two hundred transfers this year and set it beside each area's median sold price from Strawhomes MLS market data. The spread is wide: 30.0% in New Westminster, 28.3% in Port Coquitlam and 28.3% in Langley City, against 16.5% in the City of Vancouver and 1.5% in West Vancouver. It tracks price: eligible first-time buyers pay no tax on the first $500,000 only on homes priced at $835,000 or less, the exemption is partial for homes priced over $835,000 and less than $860,000, and pricier homes get none (Province of British Columbia, 2026).

New Westminster leads and West Vancouver trails: the first-time buyer share of the housing market by city

From January to September 2026, 30.0% of residential transfers in New Westminster claimed the first-time home buyers' exemption, the highest share among Metro Vancouver cities with at least two hundred transfers, according to BC Property Taxation Branch data (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026). Port Coquitlam and Langley City followed at 28.3% each, and Burnaby at 24.3%. West Vancouver was lowest at 1.5%, against a Metro Vancouver share of 19.0%.

The province's monthly data counts every residential property transfer registered at the Land Title Office and, separately, the transfers where a buyer claimed the first-time home buyers' exemption. Dividing one by the other sorts the cities of this real estate market into three groups. New Westminster, Port Coquitlam, Langley City and Burnaby (24.3%) sit well above the Metro share of 19.0%. The City of Vancouver, at 16.5%, sits below it even though it registered the most transfers, 6,653. The North Shore, White Rock and Delta sit lowest: 12.9% in the City of North Vancouver, 11.6% in the District of North Vancouver, 11.4% in White Rock, 8.3% in Delta and 1.5% in West Vancouver.

Among the region's largest cities, Surrey had the most exemption claims, 1,304, ahead of the City of Vancouver's 1,100, while its share, 21.1%, sits in the middle of the table. Buyers comparing the leading cities can follow monthly prices and sales on our New Westminster market report and Port Coquitlam market report.

The share follows price: first-time buyers cluster where the median home sells under the exemption's limit

The cities where the most buyers claim the exemption are the ones where the median home price sits under its limit. The three highest shares, New Westminster (30.0%), Port Coquitlam (28.3%) and Langley City (28.3%), are in MLS areas where the median home sold under the $835,000 limit for a full exemption (Province of British Columbia, 2026). Their October 2026 median sold prices were $626,000, $807,500 and $780,000, according to Strawhomes MLS market data.

At the other end, the four MLS areas with the highest October medians, West Vancouver ($2,710,000), North Vancouver ($1,248,500), Delta ($1,187,000) and Vancouver ($1,142,000), all had first-time shares of 16.5% or less. In those areas most homes sell above the exemption's price range, so a first-time buyer there often has nothing to claim and does not show up in the count. For a first-time buyer, the exemption depends on price, not on the neighbourhood: a detached home or single-family home priced above the phase-out range earns no exemption, while an eligible buyer's condo priced at $835,000 or less gets the full one.

Price does not explain everything. White Rock's October median, $747,500, was under the limit, yet only 11.4% of its transfers claimed the exemption. Coquitlam's median, $870,000, was close to Richmond's $872,500, but its share was 16.3% against Richmond's 23.1%. The median covers one month of MLS sales of all property types, so read it as a guide to each area's price level, not a test of each sale against the limit. Our analysis of the income needed to buy a home in each BC city works through what those prices mean for a household budget.

The count can miss first-time buyers of new condos and pricier homes

The exemption count is a floor, not a full count of first-time buyers. It leaves out first-time buyers who pay too much to qualify: the full exemption, no tax on the first $500,000, applies only on homes priced at $835,000 or less, and a partial exemption only over $835,000 and less than $860,000 (Province of British Columbia, 2026). It can also leave out first-time buyers of new homes who claim the newly built home exemption instead, which is full on homes valued at $1,100,000 or less and ends at $1,150,000 (Province of British Columbia, 2026).

That gap matters most where new construction makes up a large part of sales. In Coquitlam, 24.6% of residential transfers from January to September 2026 claimed the newly built home exemption, the highest share among these cities, against a first-time share of 16.3%. Langley City (22.9%) and Surrey (19.6%) came next, while in the City of Vancouver only 6.4% did. The province does not publish how many newly built home claims came from first-time buyers, so the two shares should not be added together, but cities near the top of this table are the likeliest to have first-time homebuyers missing from the first count.

New-home buyers have a federal benefit as well: the first-time home buyers' GST rebate returns 100% of the GST on a new home valued up to $1 million, with a partial rebate that ends at $1.5 million, according to the Canada Revenue Agency (Canada Revenue Agency, 2026). Our guide covers the GST rebates on new homes in BC, and our count of unsold new condos by city, from CMHC data, shows where finished new units are still waiting for buyers.

September 2026, the latest month of home-buying data, shows a similar order with bigger swings

In September 2026, the latest month in the province's data, 19.6% of Metro Vancouver's residential transfers claimed the first-time exemption (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026). Langley City (36.1%), Burnaby (35.7%) and Port Coquitlam (35.4%) led, and West Vancouver recorded 0.0%. Single months swing: Burnaby's September share was far above its 24.3% for the year so far.

As demand shifted through the year, the Metro Vancouver share was 19.5% in January, 18.2% in February, 18.1% in March, 20.0% in April, 17.1% in May, 17.7% in June, 20.0% in July, 21.5% in August and 19.6% in September. City counts for one month are small (Langley City's 36.1% rests on 13 claims), which is why this analysis leads with the nine-month totals and shows September only as the latest reading. Pitt Meadows is left out of the September table: it registered fewer than thirty transfers that month.

First-time buyers pulled back less than the rest of the market

In Metro Vancouver, first-time exemption claims fell from 6,564 in January to September 2025 to 6,120 in the same months of 2026, while all residential transfers fell from 37,653 to 32,219, according to BC Property Taxation Branch data (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2025) (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026). That lifted the first-time share from 17.4% to 19.0%. Province-wide, the share rose from 18.7% to 19.7%.

The biggest rises, in Richmond and Surrey, came where total transfers dropped most. Surrey's transfers fell from 9,153 to 6,188 and Richmond's from 3,480 to 2,516, yet Richmond's exemption claims rose, from 551 to 582. Langley City went the other way: its share fell from 43.7% to 28.3% as claims dropped from 210 to 154.

A rising share in a falling market does not mean more first-time buyers. In most of the cities in the table the number of claims fell too. It means first-time buyers made up a bigger part of the deals that did register, as other buyers pulled back further. Whether the same pattern holds across the Canadian housing market is not something this provincial data can show.

What the numbers mean for affordability and choosing the best cities for a first home

For a first-time buyer, the exemption is worth $8,000 on a home priced over $500,000 and up to $835,000, and it covers the full tax on any home priced at $500,000 or less (Province of British Columbia, 2026). The cities where most homes sell under that line are also where other first-time buyers are concentrated, so expect competition from buyers with the same budget there.

Our guide to first-time home buyer programs in BC sets out who qualifies and how to claim. Before choosing where to look, check where the typical home in each city sits against $835,000 on our monthly market reports, then browse starter home listings across Greater Vancouver.

For younger Canadians entering the market, the property transfer tax is one of several home costs. A First Home Savings Account (FHSA) and the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan can fund part of a down payment, and a mortgage broker can show what your household income supports. Owning a home lets you build equity, but home ownership adds housing costs such as property tax and strata fees, so before you purchase a home, compare them with rent, the rental market and vacancy rates in your current city. If prices there sit far above the limit, a commuter city where the typical home sells under it may be a better first step.

Budget check: where the typical home sits against your budget

How These Numbers Work: home purchases, not homeownership rates or the rental market

First-time share: first-time home buyer transactions divided by residential transfers, January to September 2026, for each municipality, from the BC Property Taxation Branch's monthly property transfer tax data (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026). The province's data dictionary for this dataset counts these transactions "when a purchaser buys their first home", and its glossary ties the term to the First Time Home Buyers' Program (both are listed in Sources), so the count covers transfers under the program's exemption, not every first-time purchase.

Residential transfers: market transactions registered at the Land Title Office that involve property in BC Assessment's residential class, such as houses and condominium (strata) units, whoever the buyer, corporations included, across every part of the housing stock. A transfer is dated by its registration, which can come weeks after the sale, or years after a presale contract was signed. The municipality is the jurisdiction BC Assessment uses for its real estate appraisal, and the province's figures are pre-audit.

Newly built home share: transfers where a buyer claimed the newly built home exemption, divided by the same residential transfers. The province does not publish how many of those buyers were buying their first home. The exemptions also require owner-occupancy: the home must be the buyer's principal residence (Province of British Columbia, 2026).

MLS median sold price: Strawhomes MLS market data, the median price of homes of all property types sold in October 2026, the latest complete month, in each MLS area, the same figure shown on each city's market report. MLS areas follow listing addresses, not municipal boundaries: the Langley area covers both Langley City and Langley Township, and the North Vancouver area covers both the City and the District, so each pair shows the same median. A median is not the benchmark price, which adjusts for the mix of homes sold.

Exemption limits: a full first-time exemption applies at a fair market value of $835,000 or less, reduced in proportion over $835,000 and less than $860,000, for titles registered since April 2024; the newly built home exemption is full at $1,100,000 or less and ends at $1,150,000.

Geography and years: Metro Vancouver here is the regional district, not the Vancouver census metropolitan area (CMA) that CMHC uses. The province publishes the same files for every year from 2016 to 2024, so the series can be extended: years such as 2021, 2022 and 2023 would show how the share moved through the pandemic, but this analysis starts in 2025.

Frequently Asked Questions

What share of Metro Vancouver home-buying is done by first-time buyers?

In January to September 2026, 19.0% of residential property transfers in Metro Vancouver claimed BC's first-time home buyers' exemption: 6,120 of 32,219 transfers. That counts only buyers who qualified for and claimed the exemption, so the true share of first-time buyers is higher, especially in cities where most homes sell for more than the exemption allows. (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026)

Which Metro Vancouver city has the highest share of first-time buyers?

New Westminster, where 30.0% of residential transfers claimed the first-time home buyers' exemption from January to September 2026. Port Coquitlam (28.3%), Langley City (28.3%) and Burnaby (24.3%) follow. West Vancouver was lowest at 1.5%. All figures cover cities with 200 or more transfers. (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026)

How much is BC's first-time home buyers' exemption worth on a first home?

Eligible first-time buyers pay no property transfer tax on the first $500,000 of the price. On a home with a fair market value of $835,000 or less the exemption is worth the full tax up to $500,000, which is $8,000 on any home priced between $500,000 and $835,000. For homes priced over $835,000 and less than $860,000 the exemption is reduced in proportion, and above that range there is none. (Province of British Columbia, 2026)

Does the exemption count include every first-time homeowner?

No. It counts only transfers where a buyer claimed the first-time home buyers' exemption. The full exemption, no tax on the first $500,000, applies only on homes priced at $835,000 or less, with a partial exemption over $835,000 and less than $860,000, so a first-time buyer of a pricier home cannot claim it, and a first-time buyer of a newly built home may claim the newly built home exemption instead, which reaches $1,150,000. So the share is a floor, not a full count, and it runs lowest where prices are highest. (Province of British Columbia, 2026)

Are first-time buyers a bigger share of the housing market in 2026 than in 2025?

Yes, as a share. In Metro Vancouver the first-time exemption share rose from 17.4% in January to September 2025 to 19.0% in the same months of 2026. The number of exemption claims fell, from 6,564 to 6,120, but total residential transfers fell faster, from 37,653 to 32,219, per the BC Property Taxation Branch's 2025 data (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2025) and 2026 data. (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026)

Why do so few West Vancouver buyers claim the first-time exemption?

Mostly price. Only 1.5% of West Vancouver's residential transfers claimed the exemption in January to September 2026, and the median home sold on MLS in West Vancouver in October 2026 went for $2,710,000, according to Strawhomes MLS market data (Strawhomes MLS market data, 2026), more than three times the $835,000 limit for the full exemption. (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026)

Can first-time buyers of a new home or condo get a GST rebate?

Yes. For first-time buyers in Canada, the federal first-time home buyers' GST rebate returns 100% of the GST on a new home valued at up to $1 million, with a partial rebate up to $1.5 million. In BC a first-time buyer of a newly built home may also qualify for the provincial newly built home exemption from property transfer tax, which reaches $1,150,000. (Canada Revenue Agency, 2026)

Is a high first-time share a sign of better affordability for household income in that city?

Not on its own. The share follows the price of the typical home: New Westminster, where the October 2026 MLS median was $626,000 (Strawhomes MLS market data, 2026), had a first-time share of 30.0%, while West Vancouver, at $2,710,000, had 1.5%. Household income is not in the province's transfer data, so the share shows where first-time buyers can use the exemption, not how affordable each city is. (BC Property Taxation Branch, 2026)

Methodology

We downloaded the BC Property Taxation Branch's municipal, regional district and provincial monthly property transfer tax files for 2026 (January to September, the latest release) and for 2025, then summed residential transfers, first-time home buyer transactions and newly built home transactions over January to September for each Metro Vancouver municipality with at least two hundred residential transfers in that period, and divided. The municipal totals add up to the Metro Vancouver regional district totals, and no figure was suppressed for any city in the tables. The September table uses that month alone and leaves out cities with fewer than thirty transfers in it. The 2025 comparison applies the same months and formula to the province's 2025 files. Strawhomes MLS medians are for October 2026 and appear beside the shares for price context only; no share uses them.

Sources consulted: 31

Sources cited: 29

Data freshness: current year: 25, last year: 4, older: 0

Data range: January 2025 to October 2026 (property transfer tax counts January to September 2025 and 2026; MLS medians October 2026); pulled November 12, 2026

Research date: 2026-11-12

Update schedule: Monthly, after each BC property transfer tax data release

Limitations: Counts are claims of the first-time home buyers' exemption, not all first-time purchases: buyers at or above $860,000 and first-time buyers who use the newly built home exemption are not in them. Transfers are dated by registration at the Land Title Office, which can trail the sale by weeks or, for presales, years. Municipal figures are pre-audit. MLS medians are one month and follow MLS areas, not municipal boundaries.

Sources & References

1. BC Property Taxation Branch. "Property Transfer Tax Data 2026 (BC Data Catalogue)." catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/property-transfer-tax-data-2026. Accessed 2026-11-12.
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3. BC Property Taxation Branch. "Regional District Monthly 2026 (CSV)." catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/44681fcc-d4c4-4295-b52b-dd70225b3720/resource/d. Accessed 2026-11-12.
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