The Vancouver land share — measured from the parcel roll
2026-07-18 · wave 9 · ESTIMATE lane · closes the "60–80% band pending roll
verification" gap flagged in analysis/regional-cut.md.
What was measured
City of Vancouver publishes its full property-tax roll as open data, with BC Assessment's land and improvement values separated for every parcel. Aggregates pulled 2026-07-18 via the city's API (report year 2026 = BC Assessment's July 2025 valuation date; 228,190 records):
| Segment | Parcels | Land value | Improvement value | Land share (value-weighted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All parcels, city-wide | 228,190 | $366.8B | $119.9B | 75.4% |
| Non-strata ("LAND": detached, duplex, etc.) | 89,501 | $259.8B | $87.5B | 74.8% |
| — of which Residential Inclusive zoning (the classic single-family zones) | 62,730 | $156.5B | $28.3B | 84.7% |
| — Residential zoning | 18,397 | $40.3B | $13.6B | 74.7% |
| Strata (condos) | 138,474 | $102.1B | $32.2B | 76.0% |
What this changes
- The assumed band was conservative.
regional-cut.mdused 60–80% for metro detached; the measured single-family-zone share is ~85%. The median Vancouver-CMA detached home ($1.70M, CHSP 2023) at an 85% land share holds ≈ $1.45M of land → net payment ≈ $54k/yr against a $456k average-household allowance — above the top of the previous $31–50k band. (City-proper vs CMA differences noted below.) - The average city-proper single-family parcel is starker still: Residential Inclusive land value averages $2.50M per parcel ($156.5B ÷ 62,730) — a net payment ≈ $112k/yr for an average-size household holding one. City-of-Vancouver single-family land is simply among the most valuable residential ground in the country; the honest campaign says so rather than being told so.
- The household-incidence approximation is confirmed conservative. Wave 3 allocated land in proportion to real estate using the economy-wide 52.7% land share. Vancouver's measured ~75% share, concentrated among high-wealth owners, means the true distribution is more top-heavy than the wave-3 table — i.e., the "four of five quintiles receive" result understates progressivity rather than overstating it.
- Even Vancouver condos are land-heavy (76%) on BC Assessment's allocation — but per-unit land values are modest (avg ≈ $737k total assessed per strata unit × any share is well under the allowance for most units), so the condo majority of Vancouver households remains on the receiving side. The paying class in Vancouver is specifically the detached-land-holding minority.
Caveats
- City of Vancouver ≠ Vancouver CMA: the CMA's suburbs (Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond) have lower land values and likely lower land shares; the CMA-median $1.7M detached figure combined with the city-measured 85% share mixes geographies. A CMA-wide roll pull (each municipality publishes separately, or via BC Assessment data services) would tighten this; directionally the conclusion is robust.
- Value-weighted shares, BC Assessment's land/improvement split methodology; assessment vintage July 2025.
- One year's roll; the share is stable historically but not re-verified here.
Sources
- City of Vancouver Open Data,
property-tax-reportdataset — aggregate queries (sum of current_land_value / current_improvement_value by legal_type and zoning_classification, report_year=2026), retrieved 2026-07-18. https://opendata.vancouver.ca/explore/dataset/property-tax-report/ - CHSP median detached values:
analysis/regional-cut.md(Table 46-10-0093-01). - Allowance:
analysis/household-incidence.md.