Selling Land in Metro Vancouver

Development land is priced based on what can be built, not what currently exists. The driving metric is residual land value — a calculation that works backward from expected project revenue, subtracts construction costs, financing, soft costs, and the developer's required return, and arrives at what a buyer can pay for the land while the project still pencils. That is why a BC Assessment value, a residential CMA, and a developer's offer can produce three very different numbers — they are answering three different questions. We model your site the way a developer will, so you can negotiate from the same set of numbers as the buyer.

If you own a single-family lot in most BC municipalities, almost certainly yes. Bill 44 mandates small-scale multi-unit housing on most residential lots — meaning your lot can now legally accommodate up to four units, and up to six near transit, regardless of what the previous single-family zoning said. Whether the change has translated into higher land value depends on lot dimensions, frontage, neighbouring parcels, and your municipality's response. A Confidential Land Assessment looks at all of those factors specific to your property.

It can matter significantly. Bill 47 designates Transit-Oriented Areas around SkyTrain, West Coast Express, and B-Line stations and pre-zones properties within them for higher density — up to 8 storeys and 3.0 FSR within the inner radius in many cases. If your property sits within 800 metres of a station, its development potential and land value have likely been re-rated by the market even if your municipality has not formally updated its zoning bylaws. The exact tier and what is permitted on your lot is something we can confirm in a single conversation.

Sometimes the answer is yes — assemblies can generate materially higher per-lot pricing than individual sales, and certain configurations only become viable to a developer once two or three lots are combined. But assemblies require discretion, patience, and an understanding of which buyers will actually pay the assembly premium. The wrong conversation with the wrong neighbour can collapse a deal before it starts. Most landowners benefit from talking to us first — we can tell you whether your block has assembly potential and how to approach it before you say anything to anyone next door.

Sometimes, sometimes not. Many of our land transactions are completed off-market, presented confidentially to a working list of regional developers, national builders, and family offices who are actively acquiring. Other sites benefit from open MLS exposure to maximise competitive tension among bidders. We recommend the disposition strategy that fits your specific property — and either way, your property is never marketed publicly without your explicit written permission.

Before responding, get a defensible second opinion on what the property is actually worth. Direct-to-owner offers are often pitched 10 to 25 percent below what the same site would attract through a competitive process — the developer is paying for the privilege of avoiding competition. We can review the offer, model the residual land value independently, and tell you whether the number is fair, what to counter at, and whether opening the property to other qualified buyers would likely produce a stronger result. This conversation alone is often the highest-value hour a landowner can spend.

From engagement to closing, most single-lot land sales close within four to six months — longer than a typical residential sale because due diligence is more involved. Multi-lot assemblies routinely take 12 to 24 months, and some of the assemblies we have closed have been multi-year coordinations among multiple owners. Land is a patient business. We tell you upfront what a realistic timeline looks like for your specific situation rather than promising fast outcomes that do not materialise.

Confidential Land Assessments are no-fee and no-obligation. If you choose to proceed with a sale, our compensation is structured as a commission paid by the seller upon closing, in line with industry standard for development land transactions. The exact rate depends on the property type, complexity, and disposition strategy. We discuss compensation transparently in the assessment conversation — there is no fine print and no surprises.

We represent landowners across Metro Vancouver — including the City and District of North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and surrounding municipalities — as well as the Sea to Sky corridor including Squamish. Our recent transactions span this full geography. The Wallace Green Land Group lives on the North Shore and works the entire region.

Strictly. We do not market your property, contact neighbours, list publicly, or share your details with any third party — including developers in our network — without your explicit written permission at each stage. Many of our clients use our assessment process simply to stay informed about their options. Discretion is the rule, not an upgrade.