Burnaby saw a record-setting year in 2022, as the value of the building permits the city approved soared past $2.5 billion.
The previous record was $1.69 billion in 2018.
The numbers signify the intensity of development underway in Burnaby.
“It’s a marker of how busy we are, how productive we are,” said Ed Kozak, general manager for planning and development in Burnaby.
“And it’s a poor proxy, but it’s a proxy nonetheless, of the city’s growth.”
So what got approved last year? What makes up that $2.5-billion number?
Burnaby approved a total of 1,255 building permits last year, including new buildings and alterations or repairs, with 482 of them for single-family homes, 415 for commercial buildings and 184 for multi-family buildings such condo towers and mixed-use highrises with commercial and residential units.
The construction value of multi-family building permits was $1.496 billion, making up almost 60 per cent of the value of last year’s building permits.
In total, the city approved 6,230 dwelling units, including 4,964 strata buildings four storeys and higher and 562 rental units of the same height. More than 300 single-family dwellings were also approved.
Kozak noted that number only applies to building permits, the last permit in a long sequence of approvals.
“A lot of the work that went into setting up the building permits for this probably occurred in 2018-19,” he said.
“We’ve got many, many, many more rental units in stream now, and you’ll see a dramatic shift in these numbers — probably in ’23,” Kozak said, predicting “a really big jump” in 2024 due to the units generated through Burnaby’s inclusionary rental policy which requires certain new multi-family developments include affordable rental units.
“We’re going to be seeing those numbers rise dramatically in the next two to three years.”
