Fraser Valley Real Estate Board Calls for Faster Prefab Housing Delivery in BC
Fraser Valley has prefab potential despite slow market, says board
A recent Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) report calls for faster, more coordinated delivery of prefabricated housing in BC communities including North Delta, White Rock, Surrey, the City and Township of Langley, Abbotsford, and Mission, BIV reported (11-18-25).
FVREB outlined nine policy recommendations aimed at accelerating prefab adoption. The group said harmonizing municipal zoning is critical, noting that minimum lot sizes, building widths, height allowances, parking rules, and multi-unit regulations differ across jurisdictions such as Chilliwack and Mission.
“For prefabricated builders, it means developing multiple designs or having to custom essentially the same home to satisfy different municipal codes, raising production and compliance costs,” the report said.
Other recommendations include the creation of a provincial “procurement roadmap” to help achieve economies of scale and provide factories with a stable project pipeline. FVREB also urged strengthening financing options, calling for a dedicated prefab stream within Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s apartment construction loan program.
“This stream should adapt underwriting criteria to factory-built housing by aligning financing draws with the off-site production cycle rather than exclusively with on-site construction milestones,” the report said.
The report highlights mass timber prefabrication as a promising pathway, citing sustainability benefits and faster installation times. But industry leaders said broader education is needed on how mass timber performs as a structural system.
“It wants to replace concrete and steel in some ways, but it’s not a like-for-like swap,” said Jamie Sullivan, preconstruction manager with Coquitlam-based Seagate Mass Timber Inc. Sullivan added that clients and builders must understand that column, girder, and beam layouts can differ, and that mass timber behaves differently in moisture management, weather protection, and fire performance.
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