First-Time Home Buyer Burnaby Guide for 2026

What do Burnaby condos and townhouses cost right now?

Greater Vancouver REALTORS® (GVR), the real estate board for Burnaby, splits the city into three areas in its price tables: Burnaby North, Burnaby South and Burnaby East. Each area has its own benchmark price. GVR describes a benchmark price as the estimated sale price of a typical property in that market. These are the September 2026 figures from GVR's monthly report, released October 2, 2026.

Burnaby North had the lowest apartment benchmark of the three in September 2026, $60,600 under Burnaby South. Burnaby East had the lowest townhouse benchmark, $84,200 under Burnaby South. The yearly changes come from GVR's price index, which tracks a typical home over time.

Which area a home belongs to comes from its MLS® sub-area. Metrotown, Highgate, South Slope, Forest Glen BS and Central Park BS are in Burnaby South. Brentwood Park, Capitol Hill BN, Sullivan Heights, Government Road and Simon Fraser Univer. are in Burnaby North. Edmonds BE, The Crest and East Burnaby are in Burnaby East. The letters BN, BS and BE at the end of some names stand for the area. When you compare a listing with a benchmark, use the benchmark for its own area.

GVR's sales table counts Burnaby as one area. It recorded 121 apartment sales in Burnaby in September 2026, against 175 in September 2025. Townhouse and other attached sales were 36, against 43 a year earlier. The median apartment sale price was $642,000. A median is the middle sale price of the month, so it moves with the mix of homes that sold.

How far does the first-time buyer tax exemption go in Burnaby?

In BC you pay property transfer tax (PTT) when a home is registered in your name. The rate is 1% on the first $200,000 of the price and 2% on the part from $200,000 to $2,000,000. First-time buyers who qualify pay no tax on the first $500,000 of the price, which saves up to $8,000. The full exemption applies when the fair market value is $835,000 or less. Between $835,000 and $860,000 the saving gets smaller, and at $860,000 it ends.

To qualify, you must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, have lived in BC for the year before you register the home or filed at least 2 BC tax returns in the last 6 years, and never have owned a principal residence anywhere in the world. You must also move in within 92 days of registration. Read our PTT exemption guide for the full rules.

Here is what the exemption does at each September 2026 Burnaby benchmark price:

So in Burnaby the full exemption mostly applies to condos. The Burnaby East townhouse benchmark falls in the partial range. The Province reduces the $8,000 in proportion across that range, and its own table shows $960 of exemption at $857,000 and $320 at $859,000. The other two townhouse benchmarks are past $860,000.

One other BC rule can help with a townhouse. The newly built home exemption removes the tax on a newly built home with a fair market value up to $1,100,000, and phases out by $1,150,000. It applies only to the first registration of a newly built home. You must be a citizen or permanent resident and use the home as your principal residence. Ask your lawyer or notary whether a home you are looking at counts as newly built before you rely on it.

What does a $660,000 Burnaby North condo cost to buy?

This example uses a price of $660,000, close to the Burnaby North apartment benchmark of $662,400 in September 2026. It is an illustration based on the benchmark, and real prices vary by building, size and age. The mortgage rate is an example rate of 4.50%. Confirm current rates with a mortgage broker before you rely on any of these figures.

With less than 20% down you will need mortgage loan insurance. First-time buyers can take a 30-year amortization, meaning the loan is paid off over 30 years. CMHC's premium for a 30-year loan of more than 90% of the price is 4.20%, and in this example the loan is 93.79% of the price. The premium is added to the mortgage. The monthly payments above use Canadian semi-annual compounding.

Lenders also check that you could make the payment at a higher rate, called the stress test. The test rate is the higher of your rate plus 2% or 5.25%. At a 4.50% example rate that is 6.50%, and the test payment is $4,040 a month. Read our stress test guide, then ask a mortgage broker what it means for your income and debts.

The same math at $725,000, near the Burnaby South apartment benchmark, gives a minimum down payment of $47,500, a total insured mortgage of $705,955, PTT of $4,500 after the $8,000 exemption, and $3,560 a month at the same example rate. At $860,000, just above the Burnaby East townhouse benchmark, the minimum down payment is $61,000, the full PTT of $15,200 is due, and the payment is $4,198 a month.

Two federal accounts can help with the down payment. A First Home Savings Account (FHSA) gives you $8,000 of contribution room a year, up to a lifetime limit of $40,000. The Home Buyers' Plan lets you withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP. The Canada Revenue Agency says you can use both for the same home if you meet the conditions for each.

Which Burnaby neighbourhoods and SkyTrain lines fit your day?

We suggest choosing in this order: your daily trip, then your budget, then the building. In Burnaby, the SkyTrain stations near a home affect all three.

The Expo Line runs from Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver through south Burnaby, with stops at Patterson, Metrotown, Royal Oak and Edmonds, then on to New Westminster and Surrey. Some Expo Line trains run from Waterfront through New Westminster to Lougheed Town Centre and Production Way-University. The Millennium Line starts at VCC-Clark in Vancouver and runs through north Burnaby, mostly along Lougheed Hwy., with stops at Gilmore, Brentwood Town Centre, Holdom, Sperling-Burnaby Lake, Lake City Way, Production Way-University and Lougheed Town Centre, then on to Coquitlam and Port Moody.

TransLink publishes a chart of train times between stations. From Metrotown to Waterfront is 20 minutes, from Patterson 18 minutes and from Edmonds 24 minutes. On the Millennium Line, Brentwood to Commercial-Broadway is 8 minutes, and from there the Expo Line to Waterfront takes 10 minutes, plus the time to change trains. Time spent waiting for the train is extra.

A RapidBus route links south and north Burnaby. Since September 7, 2026, TransLink's R2 runs from Park Royal to Metrotown, serving Burnaby Heights, Brentwood and BCIT on the way. TransLink says buses come every 6 to 7 minutes in weekday peak periods and every 10 to 15 minutes at other times.

The City of Burnaby plans growth around four town centres. It calls Metrotown its downtown and regional city centre, serving the southwest of the city. Brentwood serves the northwest, Lougheed the northeast and Edmonds the southeast. Council adopted the Burnaby 2050 Official Community Plan on December 9, 2025. The City's growth projections place most new growth in these four centres.

These sub-areas are a starting point. Each card opens the live listings for that sub-area:

If schools matter to you, check the exact address with the Burnaby School District (School District 41). The district says it runs 41 elementary and 8 secondary schools. Its website has a tool that finds the schools serving an address, so check it before you make an offer.

What should you check in a Burnaby condo or leasehold listing?

Most homes in Burnaby are apartments. In the 2021 census, Burnaby had 249,125 residents, up 7.0% from 2016, and 101,140 occupied homes. Of those homes, 29,715 were apartments in buildings of five or more storeys and 23,835 were apartments in buildings under five storeys, together 52.9% of the total. Another 16,650 were counted as apartments or flats in a duplex, and 8,770 as row houses. Renters lived in 39.5% of homes, and 42.1% of homes were condominiums.

A condo or townhouse is usually a strata home. You own your unit and share the costs of the building with the other owners through the strata corporation. Before you make your offer firm, we suggest reading the minutes, the budget, the depreciation report and the Form B information certificate. Since July 1, 2024, BC strata corporations with five or more lots must get a depreciation report every five years and can no longer vote to put it off. Since April 1, 2023, the Form B must include a summary of the strata's insurance. Our strata documents guide lists what to ask for.

Since November 24, 2022, no BC strata corporation can have a bylaw that restricts renting out units. Bylaws that limit or ban short-term rentals are still allowed. The only age restriction a strata can set is 55 and older.

Check the ownership type on every listing. Burnaby MLS® listings show it in a field with values such as Freehold Strata and Leasehold prepaid-Strata. With a leasehold home, the land is leased for a set number of years instead of owned outright. Many listings in the Simon Fraser Univer. sub-area, on Burnaby Mountain, are leasehold. UniverCity, the community there, says the land stays under SFU ownership and parcels are leased to developers for 99 years. Ask your lawyer and your mortgage broker to review any leasehold listing before you write an offer.

How does Burnaby compare with nearby cities on price?

Many buyers price Burnaby against cities further east. These are September 2026 benchmark prices from GVR and the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB). Both boards publish MLS® Home Price Index benchmarks.

The Burnaby North apartment benchmark is $214,800 above the City of Surrey benchmark, $149,000 above Maple Ridge's and $136,500 above Langley's. It is also $27,600 above Vancouver East. FVREB's City of Surrey figure combines North Surrey, Central Surrey, Cloverdale and South Surrey, and leaves out White Rock.

Townhouses show the tax difference. The Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Langley and City of Surrey townhouse benchmarks are all under $835,000, so a qualifying first-time buyer at those prices keeps the full $8,000 PTT saving. Burnaby East and New Westminster fall in the partial range, and Burnaby North and Burnaby South are past $860,000.

Travel time is the other side of the choice. TransLink's chart lists 40 minutes by train from King George station in Surrey to Waterfront, and 20 minutes from Metrotown. A home closer to downtown costs more and cuts the daily trip. A home further east costs less and adds travel time. Which one fits depends on where you work, your budget and how often you go downtown.

What are your next steps?

FRIVE is a BC-licensed team based in the Fraser Valley. We help first-time buyers compare cities on the same numbers, and the order below is the one we suggest:

• Check whether you qualify for the first-time buyer PTT exemption.
• Open an FHSA early, because your first $8,000 of contribution room starts in the year you open it, and read how the Home Buyers' Plan works with it.
• Get a pre-approval from a mortgage broker and run the stress test on your own numbers.
• Read the strata documents for any building you like before you make an offer firm.
• Browse current Burnaby listings by sub-area.

If you want to talk it through, book a chat with the FRIVE team. We can set Burnaby North, Burnaby South, Burnaby East and the Fraser Valley cities side by side for your budget, and we never push you to write an offer before you are ready.