Drive south on 192nd Street through Cloverdale on a weekday morning and the signals are clear: fresh tilt-up concrete panels rising behind orange construction fencing, flatbed trucks queued at newly paved loading aprons, and leasing signs that went up in April already showing "Leased" riders. Metro Vancouver's industrial land story has shifted south and east, and it is moving faster than many operators realize.

The core numbers explain the migration. According to CBRE Canada's Q2 2026 Metro Vancouver Industrial Market Report, average net asking rents in Burnaby and Richmond have climbed above $25 per square foot annually—a threshold that was unthinkable a decade ago and is now forcing occupiers to make hard choices about their next lease. The region's overall industrial vacancy rate, which bottomed at approximately 1.2 per cent in 2023, has edged up marginally as new supply arrives, but remains historically tight. Functional, modern space in traditional industrial cores is effectively spoken for.

The contrast with the Fraser Valley corridor is striking. Colliers International's BC industrial data shows Surrey and Langley net asking rents running materially below the Burnaby-Richmond benchmark. For an e-commerce fulfilment operator taking 100,000 square feet, a rent differential of $6 to $8 per square foot translates to $600,000 to $800,000 in annual savings—capital that flows directly back into labour, automation, or margins.

The Rezoning Race

Available industrial land in Surrey and Langley is not unlimited; it is simply less exhausted than the core. Both municipalities hold inventories of agriculturally designated or mixed-use land that could theoretically be converted to industrial use. The pace at which applications move through rezoning determines whether supply keeps pace with demand, or whether the corridor replicates the scarcity conditions that now define Burnaby and Richmond.

The City of Surrey's Industrial Lands Strategy positions the municipality as one of the more proactive jurisdictions in the region, with an explicit mandate to protect and expand its industrial base. Surrey's economic development office has flagged the Campbell Heights and Port Kells business parks as priority growth nodes, and the city has moved to streamline approvals for applications that align with its employment lands framework.

The Township of Langley's economic development office presents a complementary picture. Industrial inventory is concentrated along the Highway 1 and 10 corridors, with the Gloucester Industrial Estates and Willowbrook areas seeing renewed interest from cold storage and light manufacturing users. The township maintains a more deliberate approval pace, reflecting a municipal culture that weighs agricultural land preservation carefully—a dynamic that adds time to some timelines but produces more predictable outcomes for applicants who plan accordingly.

Who Is Moving, and Why

Operators making the earliest moves into the corridor share a common profile: they have high cubic-footage requirements, moderate office-to-warehouse ratios, and supply chains anchored to the Port of Vancouver or the Trans-Canada Highway. Metro Vancouver's regional industrial land inventory data underscores why the corridor makes logistical sense; Surrey and Langley sit within practical drayage range of both the Deltaport container terminal and major inland distribution nodes.

Cold storage is a particularly active segment. The growth of temperature-controlled grocery fulfilment and pharmaceutical logistics has created demand for specialized facilities that are currently in short supply. Developers who secure suitably zoned land and build to cold-storage specifications are finding pre-lease interest before a shovel breaks ground.

Market Snapshot: Core vs. Corridor

• Burnaby / Richmond average net asking rent: Above $25/sq ft annually
• Surrey / Langley average net asking rent: Materially lower—spread of approximately $6–$10/sq ft depending on building vintage and specification
• Metro Vancouver overall industrial vacancy: Near historic lows, up marginally from the 2023 trough of approximately 1.2%
• Key demand sectors in the corridor: E-commerce fulfilment, cold storage, light manufacturing, last-mile logistics
• Primary growth nodes: Campbell Heights (Surrey), Port Kells (Surrey), Gloucester Industrial Estates (Langley), Highway 10 corridor (Langley)

The Bottom Line

Metro Vancouver's industrial market bifurcation reflects a structural shift in where logistics infrastructure can locate. The core markets are not going to get cheaper; the question is whether Surrey and Langley can add supply fast enough to avoid replicating that scarcity over the next three to five years. The early evidence suggests they cannot fully keep pace with demand, which means the rent differential that makes the corridor attractive today will likely compress over time.

For operators making Q3 2026 site decisions, the window is real but not infinite. The businesses that treat rezoning pipeline intelligence and municipal relationship-building as core competencies are the ones that will lock in competitive lease rates before the spread narrows.

What to watch: Surrey's Q3 council agenda for industrial rezoning decisions in Campbell Heights; Township of Langley's annual employment lands review, expected late summer 2026; and CBRE's Q3 Metro Vancouver Industrial Market Report for updated vacancy and rent data.