Owning the walls around your lathe press or spray booth was once an ambition reserved for operators with deep balance sheets. Today, across Burnaby’s Brentwood fringe, Coquitlam’s Maillardville industrial corridor, and Abbotsford’s expanding southeast quadrant, a quieter shift is underway: small manufacturers and trades businesses are buying their stalls, locking in cost certainty, and watching an asset class compound in their favour.
The catalyst is a vacancy crisis that has made leasing a precarious strategy. Metro Vancouver’s industrial vacancy rate sat below 2% as of Q1 2026, according to Avison Young. This figure has remained tight even as new supply has trickled into the market. In this environment, tenants rarely negotiate from a position of strength.
Average asking net rents for Metro Vancouver industrial space have climbed sharply over the past five years, with prime Burnaby and Richmond submarkets now regularly quoting above $22 per square foot net, according to Colliers International’s BC industrial market tracking. A decade ago, these rates were in the mid-single digits. For a 3,000-square-foot unit, that represents an annual lease obligation exceeding $66,000, excluding operating costs, property taxes, and insurance.
The Equity Argument
Strata industrial units across Metro Vancouver have significantly outpaced office and retail assets on a 10-year capital appreciation basis, according to BC Assessment sales data. This trend is driven by supply-demand imbalances, including reshoring demand, last-mile logistics, and a lack of new small-bay supply. For an operator who purchased a Burnaby strata bay in the early 2010s for $180 to $220 per square foot, current comparable sales in the $550 to $700 range represent a significant transformation of the balance sheet.
Financing the Purchase
The owner-occupier profile includes plumbers, precision machinists, food processors, and custom fabricators. However, financing remains a hurdle. Most strata industrial presales require a 20% to 25% deposit at signing, with the balance due on completion.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has documented persistent financing gaps for small-business property acquisition in BC, noting that lenders often apply residential underwriting logic to commercial strata purchases, demanding higher equity contributions and shorter amortization periods.
To manage these costs, some business owners in Coquitlam and Abbotsford are pooling resources to purchase adjacent units, cross-leasing space they do not immediately occupy to help service the debt.
Developers such as Beedie Development Group and Anthem Properties have brought purpose-built strata industrial product to market in Burnaby and the Tri-Cities. Presale absorption remains high, though pricing for new product—often $550 to $650 per square foot—places entry costs for a 2,500-square-foot unit between $1.375 million and $1.625 million.
Viable Entry Points
Abbotsford and Mission: The eastern Fraser Valley offers accessible pricing, with some secondary-bay product trading below $400 per square foot. While further from the Metro Vancouver core, the region remains attractive for businesses serving the construction and agricultural sectors.
Coquitlam / Port Coquitlam secondary stock: Older strata buildings from the 1990s and early 2000s trade at a discount to new product. For businesses that do not require 28-foot clear heights, these units offer a path to ownership at $420 to $480 per square foot.
Burnaby presale waitlists: For operators with a 24-to-36-month runway, joining developer waitlists for upcoming Burnaby projects remains a viable strategy to secure long-term occupancy costs.
The Bottom Line
For Metro Vancouver manufacturers and trades operators with upcoming lease renewals, exploring strata ownership is a prudent step. While the financing environment is challenging, it has proven workable for operators who plan ahead and engage commercial mortgage brokers early.
What to watch: Presale launch volumes in Abbotsford through Q3 2026 will indicate whether the Fraser Valley’s supply pipeline can ease entry-point pricing. Observers should also monitor potential developments regarding BC’s small-business commercial financing framework.
