How buying a home in Burnaby works

A pre-approval is a lender’s conditional read of what it may lend from the documents you provide, not a promise that a specific Burnaby home will be financed.

Bring income, debt, and down-payment documents the lender asks for. A rate quote by itself is not a pre-approval, and a pre-approval is not the final approval that follows a review of the property. Whether a lender applies a stress test, and at what qualifying rate, is decided by that lender and the mortgage product. This page does not publish rates.

If the down payment is small enough that mortgage default insurance applies, the premium is a separate cost from the purchase price. Estimate it on the CMHC mortgage insurance calculator. The calculator is an estimate. It is not an approval, and it is not a rate. Cash you will need at completion — including property transfer tax, where it applies — sits outside the down payment. The tax step is below.

Choose the housing form and the part of Burnaby you are shopping before you treat two listings as the same kind of purchase.

A condo or other strata apartment, a townhouse, and a detached house ask different document questions even when the list prices look close. The Burnaby real estate guide already explains those forms. This page does not repeat them. Area notes for Metrotown, Brentwood, Edmonds, and the other places the guide covers are on the area orientation. They are orientation, not rankings.

Metrotown has its own guide: the Metrotown neighbourhood page, plus the form pages for condos, townhouses, and detached homes. Those pages carry the neighbourhood context and current listings. Current Burnaby and Greater Vancouver listings are also on Homes for Sale.

View the home, then read the documents that belong to its form before you treat the listing as the whole file.

If the home is a strata lot — most Burnaby condos, and many townhouses — the useful package includes the Form B Information Certificate, recent minutes, the depreciation report when one exists, the bylaws, and any rental or use restrictions those bylaws still contain. The Burnaby strata document review guide is that reading list. The registered plan, including what is common property and what is limited common property, is how to read a BC strata plan. The Strata Property Act and the Province’s strata housing pages are the official references. This page does not score a building.

A detached house is a different file. An inspection, a title review, and the property’s BC Assessment record are the usual context. BC Assessment’s value is an assessed value for tax distribution. It is not the price you should offer, and it can differ from a current sale price. Read the title. Do not assume freehold, especially where a leasehold or other interest is part of the property.

The offer is a contract of purchase and sale: price, deposit, subjects, and the dates the parties actually agree, not a template this page can fill in.

Price, the deposit amount, what the subjects are, and the dates for subject removal, completion, possession, and adjustment belong in that contract. Subjects often cover financing, inspection, title, and — when the home is strata — document review. Which subjects belong on a particular offer depends on the property and the negotiation. This page does not supply clause wording.

Buyer representation is optional. You can write an offer without a REALTOR®. If you hire one, the relationship and any fee are negotiable and belong in a written agreement. There is no fee figure on this page. BCFSA’s public real estate resources explain representation and the home buyer rescission period. They do not replace the contract or your lawyer or notary.

BCFSA says homebuyers have up to three business days after an accepted offer to rescind, and the rescission fee is 0.25% of the offer price.

On January 3, 2023, the B.C. government implemented the Home Buyer Rescission Period (“HBRP”) for residential real estate transactions. Also known as the cooling-off period, BCFSA says this measure gives homebuyers up to three business days to rescind an offer on a home after the offer has been accepted. The three-day rescission period excludes weekends and holidays. A buyer has the right to rescind within those three business days regardless of whether a real estate licensee is involved. Only buyers can rescind a contract under the HBRP. To rescind, the buyer must notify the seller in writing before the rescission period expires and pay the seller a rescission fee. The rescission fee is 0.25% of the offer price. The right to rescission cannot be waived by the buyer or the seller. Buyers do not need to provide a reason.

BCFSA says the rescission period applies to these residential properties:

• A detached house
• A semi-detached house
• A townhouse
• An apartment in a duplex or other multi-unit dwelling
• A residential strata lot, as defined in the Strata Property Act
• A manufactured home that is affixed to land
• A cooperative interest, as defined in the Real Estate Development Marketing Act, that includes a right of use or occupation of a dwelling

BCFSA says these are excluded:

• Residential property that is located on leased land
• A leasehold interest in residential property
• Residential property that is sold at auction
• Residential property that is sold under a court order or the supervision of a court

Last verified: 7 October 2026 PT. Those words are from the BCFSA home buyer rescission period page, read that day. Read it again before you rely on a deadline or a fee. This page does not calculate the fee on a sample price.

Removing subjects makes the contract firm on those conditions, and the deposit is the amount and date the contract names.

Use the subject period to finish the work the subjects describe: financing, inspection, strata documents, insurance arrangements the lender or the property requires, and a title review. When a subject is removed, that protection is gone. Do not remove a subject because a deadline is close if the document or the approval is not actually in hand.

The deposit amount, who holds it, and when it is paid are contract terms. This page does not publish a standard Burnaby deposit. The home buyer rescission period, where it applies, is a separate right from subject removal. One does not replace the other. If you are unsure what a removal or a rescission does to the deposit, ask the lawyer or notary on the file. This is not that advice.

Completion is when the transfer is finished and funds change hands; possession is the day the contract says you may take the home, which may be the same day or a later day.

A lawyer or notary handles conveyancing: the documents, the statement of adjustments, and registration of the transfer with the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia. Title is registered at the land title office. You do not register it yourself from this website. Alex does not replace that professional.

The contract names completion, possession, and adjustment. Possession is not automatically the completion day. Property taxes and other adjustments are calculated to the adjustment date in the contract. Bring the funds the lawyer or notary requests in the form they require. This page does not estimate those funds.

Beyond the price, budget property transfer tax unless an exemption applies, plus the legal, inspection, and adjustment costs your own file actually has.

The Province’s property transfer tax page, last updated December 3, 2025, and read again on 7 October 2026 PT, states the general rate as 1% of the fair market value up to and including $200,000, 2% of the fair market value greater than $200,000 and up to and including $2,000,000, and 3% of the fair market value greater than $2,000,000. If the property has residential property worth over $3,000,000, a further 2% tax applies to the residential property value greater than $3,000,000. You or your legal professional file the return, and you pay the tax, unless you qualify for an exemption. Estimate it on the BC property transfer tax calculator. The calculator is an estimate, not the tax on your registration.

The first time home buyers’ program can reduce or eliminate the tax when you qualify, as a full or partial exemption. Amounts are on the current exemption amounts page. The newly built home exemption can reduce or eliminate the tax on a qualifying purchase of a principal residence. A foreign national, foreign corporation, or taxable trustee may also owe the additional property transfer tax on residential property in a specified area. This page does not decide that any person qualifies.

Other costs are real and file-specific: the lawyer or notary, an inspection, home insurance the lender or the property requires, and property-tax adjustments. None of those dollar amounts is published here. Annual property tax in Burnaby is administered by the City of Burnaby. An estimate tool on this site is the BC property tax calculator. It is an estimate, not a tax bill. The City of Burnaby is on the Province’s speculation and vacancy tax taxable areas list, so some owners of residential property must declare. Whether a home is taxed depends on the official rules and exemptions. This is not a tax result.

Follow the first-time order on the checklist, then come back here for the Burnaby sequence. This page does not repeat that checklist.

The ordered first-time list — financing, official programs, the offer, subjects, and completion — is the first-time home buyer checklist for BC. The on-demand overview is the First-Time Home Buyers Seminar. Program rules change. Confirm them on the government pages linked from the checklist before you rely on an exemption.

If you might rent the home, or you are buying one that already has a tenant, read the strata bylaws and the tenancy status before you write.

Rental and use rules still live in the bylaws and in the current provincial pages. Confirm them. Do not assume a suite or a strata lot can be rented on the terms you have in mind. If a tenant is already in place, the purchase is a different file from a vacant home: the tenancy usually continues. Read selling a tenanted home in BC for that context — it is about the tenancy that comes with the purchase, not a property-management pitch. This page stays on the purchase.