Burnaby Presale Condo Market Update: September 2026
By Uzair Muhammad · Published · Updated
Burnaby is Metro Vancouver's softest presale market: ~90 active projects, Metrotown condos averaging $634,333 over 53 days, and incentives on a third of them. How to use that leverage.
Burnaby is the softest presale condo market in Metro Vancouver right now — roughly 90 active developments competing for buyers, average Metrotown condos selling at $634,333 after 53 days on market, and 27 projects openly advertising incentives. If you are buying in Burnaby this fall, you have more leverage than at any point since 2019. The job is to actually use it.
The numbers behind Burnaby's buyer's market
Here is where Burnaby sits heading into September 2026 — regional data, not marketing-centre data.
| Indicator | Latest reading | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Metro Vancouver residential sales (July 2026) | 2,061 — down 9.8% year over year, and 18.6% below the 10-year seasonal average | Demand is thin region-wide, not just in one pocket |
| Apartment segment | Led the July decline with an ~18% drop in sales | Condos are the weakest product type — that is where discounts live |
| Metro Vancouver apartment benchmark | $695,200 | Your appraisal reference point at completion |
| Metrotown average condo sale price (Aug 2026) | $634,333, range $470,000–$803,000 | Resale comps are below the regional benchmark |
| Metrotown days on market | 53 days | Sellers, including developers, are waiting |
| Active Burnaby presale developments | ~90, starting around $387,000 | Supply competition is doing your negotiating for you |
Why Burnaby specifically went soft
This is a supply story, not a demand story. The Metrotown and Brentwood corridors started an enormous volume of towers in the 2021–2022 cycle, and those towers are now completing into the same 18-month window — in a market where Q1 2026 presale absorption across BC was roughly 124 units, down from nearly 6,000 in Q1 2021.
Layer on a Bank of Canada that held its policy rate at 2.25% on July 15, 2026 — a sixth consecutive hold — and you get a market where borrowing costs have stopped falling fast enough to rescue prices, while completions keep arriving. The result is the $550,000–$750,000 Burnaby–Metrotown band being the single most oversupplied price segment in the region.
Oversupply is not automatically a buying signal. It is a negotiating signal. A soft market rewards buyers who pick the right building and punishes buyers who simply pick the biggest discount. Those are two different decisions.
What is actually on the table right now
Across Metro Vancouver, developer incentives currently range from roughly $10,000 to north of $100,000 per unit. In Burnaby specifically, 27 of the ~90 active projects are advertising incentives worth up to about $34,000. Here is how they rank by real value to you, as opposed to headline value.
| Incentive | Typical size | Real value |
|---|---|---|
| Price reduction on the contract | Varies | Highest. Lowers your mortgage, your PTT, and your appraisal risk permanently |
| Reduced deposit structure (as low as 5%) | Frees $40,000–$90,000 of cash | High if you need the liquidity — but it does not lower your price |
| Cash credit at completion | $10,000–$100,000+ | Medium. Often does not reduce the registered price, so PTT and appraisal stay high |
| Free parking / storage | $35,000–$70,000 stated | Medium. Genuinely valuable in Metrotown, but confirm it is titled, not licensed |
| Decorating allowance / upgrade credit | $5,000–$20,000 | Lowest. Priced at retail, spent at the developer's supplier |
A worked example: a $899,000 two-bed near Metrotown
Assume a qualifying first-time buyer, a new two-bedroom contracted at $899,000, completing in 2028.
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Property Transfer Tax at standard rates (1% on first $200,000 + 2% on the balance) | $15,980 |
| Newly Built Home Exemption (full exemption up to $1,100,000) | −$15,980 |
| GST at 5% on a new home | $44,950 |
| First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate (100% of GST on new homes up to $1,000,000, max $50,000) | −$44,950 |
| Net closing tax | $0 — roughly $60,930 in relief |
Two things that trip people up. First, the Newly Built Home Exemption and the First-Time Home Buyers' PTT exemption cannot be stacked — you use one, and on a new build above $835,000 the newly built exemption is the stronger one. Second, the federal GST rebate phases out on a straight line between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000 and disappears entirely at $1.5M. On a Burnaby two-bed, the difference between contracting at $995,000 and $1,050,000 is not $55,000 — once the rebate claws back, it can be closer to $60,000.
Tip: Ask the developer to structure the incentive as a price reduction on the Contract of Purchase and Sale rather than a completion credit. On the $899,000 example, moving $40,000 from "credit" to "price" saves you PTT, lowers your mortgage principal, and — most importantly in this market — lowers the number the appraiser has to justify in 2028.
Where the real risk sits in Burnaby
Assignment pricing. Burnaby and Surrey presale assignments contracted at the 2022 peak are currently trading 15–25% below their original contract price in some cases. If you are being offered an assignment, that discount is the market telling you something about the completion value, not a gift.
Appraisal at completion. With the Metro apartment benchmark at $695,200 and Metrotown resale averaging $634,333, a 2028 completion contracted well above those numbers has to grow into its price — a financing question you settle in 2026, not 2028. More on the deposit side in what actually happens to your deposit if a BC project is cancelled or delayed.
Do this before you sign anything in Burnaby: get the disclosure statement and read the outside date, confirm whether parking is titled or licensed, price the same floor plan against two competing towers within a 10-minute walk, and get a mortgage broker's written view on qualifying at completion — not at signing.
What I would do in September
If you are a first-time buyer
Stay under $1,000,000 so the GST rebate lands in full, and target completions inside 24 months so your qualifying picture is knowable. The combined tax relief is doing more for you than any decorating allowance.
If you are an investor
Underwrite to today's Metrotown rents and today's $634,333 comps, not to a 2028 forecast. If the deal only works on appreciation, it is not a deal — it is a bet. Compare against Coquitlam, where the same money buys a different supply picture.
If Burnaby is on your list, start with the current inventory on our Burnaby presale condos page, and if transit access is the whole reason you are looking here, our presale condos near SkyTrain guide compares the corridor station by station.
The Bottom Line
Burnaby in September 2026 is a genuine buyer's market: ~90 competing projects, 53-day resale absorption in Metrotown, and incentives on roughly a third of active developments. But the discount is not the deal — the building, the completion date, and how the incentive is structured on paper are. A qualifying first-time buyer at $899,000 can legitimately close with $0 in PTT and GST, which is worth more than almost any upgrade credit on offer.
We represent buyers only — never developers — and we have VIP access to pricing that is not published publicly. Book a free 15-min call and we will pull the real numbers on any Burnaby project you are considering.
Sources: Greater Vancouver REALTORS® monthly market reports (July 2026); Bank of Canada policy rate announcement, July 15, 2026; BC Ministry of Finance Property Transfer Tax exemptions (gov.bc.ca); Canada Revenue Agency, First-Time Home Buyers' GST/HST Rebate. Market data current as of August 31, 2026. This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice.