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The Journal · 19 September 2026

New construction or resale in Langley: which is the better buy?

The short answerIt depends on the home type, and the numbers are surprisingly different. New townhomes sold at 100% of list in 15 days; new houses took 46 days at 95.2% of ask with 10.6 months of supply against 5.9 for resale; new condos carried 11.9 months of supply against 5.5 for resale and cost $100 more a square foot.
Analysis by Hamish Ross · 19 September 2026 · Data: September 2026 edition (August 2026 data)
The Evidence
MeasureAugust 2026, as read on 5 September
House, new build72 sold, median $1,833,000, $499 a sq ft, 46 days, 95.2% of ask, 10.6 months
House, resale762 sold, $1,359,000, $530 a sq ft, 22 days, 96.9%, 5.9 months
Townhome, new build152 sold (+37%), $933,000, $606 a sq ft, 15 days, 100.0%, 4.9 months
Townhome, resale665 sold (−12%), $794,000, $508 a sq ft, 24 days, 98.0%, 3.9 months
Condo, new build129 sold, $520,000, $707 a sq ft, 11.9 months
Condo, resale690 sold (−17%), $527,000, $606 a sq ft, 5.5 months

What is happening

New townhomes are the one new product Langley is short of: sales up 37%, clearing at asking in two weeks. New houses sell slower and cheaper per foot than resale because they are bigger, and the shelf is deep. New condos are the problem shelf: nearly twelve months of supply at a $100-a-foot premium over resale, and in Langley City the new-condo shelf reached 18.6 months over the year.

What it means

A townhome buyer who wants new pays the premium and competes. A house buyer who wants new has leverage: 46 days and 95.2% of ask is a negotiation, not an auction. A condo buyer should price new against resale a street away before signing anything; the resale is usually the value and the new one is the view.

What we are watching nextWhether new-condo supply in Willoughby and Langley City clears as completions land, or deepens.
The full answer

The same year, six different markets

New construction and resale are sold by the same board in the same month and they behave like different products. In the twelve months to August 2026, new-build houses took twice as long to sell as resale (46 median days against 22), closed further from ask (95.2% against 96.9%) and carried nearly twice the supply (10.6 months against 5.9). New townhomes did the opposite: 152 sold, up 37%, at a median 100% of list in 15 days on 4.9 months. New condos sat: 11.9 months of supply against 5.5 for resale, and in Langley City the new-condo shelf averaged 18.6 months over the year. The right answer to “new or resale” depends on which of the three you are buying.

New build against resale, Langley-wide, twelve months to August 2026
HomeSold, 12 monthsMedian sale$ per sq ftMedian daysSold at % of askMonths of supply (12-month average)
House, new build72$1,833,000$4994695.2%10.6
House, resale762$1,359,000$5302296.9%5.9
Townhome, new build152 (+37%)$933,000$60615100.0%4.9
Townhome, resale665 (−12%)$794,000$5082498.0%3.9
Condo, new build129$520,000$7072398.4%11.9
Condo, resale690 (−17%)$527,000$6062697.2%5.5

Houses: the new one is bigger, dearer per door, cheaper per foot, and slower

A new-build house sold at a median $1,833,000 against $1,359,000 for resale, a premium of $474,000 at the median. Yet the new house is cheaper per square foot, $499 against $530, because it is bigger: the 3,800-plus-square-foot house sold at $434 a foot in the year and the under-2,000 at $654. Size is the discount and age is the premium: a house built in 2012 or later fetched a median $1,742,000 against $1,215,000 for one built before 1990. The new house also waited: 46 days against 22, 95.2% of ask against 96.9%, 10.6 months of supply against 5.9. A buyer of a new house has time and a negotiating margin the resale buyer does not; a seller of a new house is competing with a builder’s shelf that is measured in months.

Townhomes: new clears at ask, and the premium is $98 a foot

152 new-build townhomes sold in the year, up 37%, at a median 100% of list in 15 days, $933,000 at the median and $606 a square foot against $508 for resale. That $98-a-foot premium is what a buyer pays for the warranty, the finish and the year of completion, and this year buyers paid it without negotiating. Resale townhomes sold 665, down 12%, at $794,000 and 98.0% of ask in 24 days on 3.9 months of supply, the tightest resale segment on the board. Both shelves are thin; the new one is thinner on the day of sale. Most of it is in Willoughby, which carries 165 townhomes for sale and delivered the bulk of the year’s new stock.

Condos: the $100-a-foot premium is what the shelf is made of

New condos sold for $707 a square foot against $606 for resale, and carried 11.9 months of supply against 5.5. The median new condo ($520,000) was cheaper than the median resale ($527,000) because it was smaller; per foot it was a sixth dearer. In Langley City, the neighbourhood nearest the 2029 SkyTrain terminus, the new-condo shelf reached 18.6 months over the year, and resale condos there sold at $526 a foot against $569 the year before. Anyone buying a resale condo in Langley City is pricing against a new tower a block away that is not selling out; anyone buying the new tower should know the per-foot gap and the months of supply before they sign.

What the age of the house does to the price

Houses by decade built, Langley-wide, twelve months to August 2026
BuiltSoldMedian sale$ per sq ft
Before 1990396$1,215,000$575
1990 to 1999118$1,399,000$564
2000 to 2011138$1,497,000$444
2012 or later180$1,742,000$482

The 2000 to 2011 house is the value line in that table: $444 a square foot, the cheapest per foot of any vintage, at a median $1,497,000. It is big, it is past its first round of defects, and it is not new enough to carry the new-build premium. Brookswood is where the age gap is widest: 85 houses built before 1990 sold at a median $1,304,000 and 30 built in 2012 or later at $2,209,000, a $905,000 gap that is the rebuild premium on the same streets. Willoughby is the opposite: 101 of its 209 house sales were 2012-or-later builds.

How to decide

Buy new for a townhome if you want the finish and can move in days, because the shelf clears at ask; buy resale for a townhome if you want $98 a foot back and a 24-day market. Buy new for a house only with a margin in hand, because the seller is a builder with months of supply and the sold-at-ask figure says 4.8% off is normal; buy resale for a house if you want the market’s pace and the 2000 to 2011 vintage if you want the most house per dollar. Buy a new condo with your eyes on the months of supply, not the brochure, and price any resale condo against the tower next door. Before any presale, read what protects you and what does not; the reports on presales, assignments and the three days after you sign are linked below.

Questions people ask

Is it cheaper to buy new construction or resale in Langley?

Per door, resale: a resale house sold at a median $1,359,000 against $1,833,000 new, a resale townhome $794,000 against $933,000. Per square foot the new house is cheaper ($499 against $530) because it is bigger; the new townhome ($606 against $508) and new condo ($707 against $606) are dearer.

Do new homes sell faster in Langley?

Townhomes yes: new builds sold in a median 15 days at 100% of list. Houses no: 46 days against 22 for resale, at 95.2% of ask. New condos took 23 days against 26 but carried 11.9 months of supply against 5.5.

What is the new-construction premium in Langley?

$98 a square foot for townhomes ($606 against $508) and about $100 for condos ($707 against $606). For houses there is no per-foot premium; the new house is cheaper per foot and dearer per door because it is larger.

Which Langley neighbourhood has the most new homes?

Willoughby: 101 of Langley’s 180 sales of houses built since 2012, and the bulk of the 152 new-build townhome sales. The next supply of houses is Brookswood-Fernridge under its three revised neighbourhood plans.

Fraser Valley Real Estate Board MLS® August 2026 package, released 2 September 2026; sub-area and twelve-month figures from the board’s InfoSparks database, read 5 September 2026. Benchmarks are the board’s index price, never an average. Analysis: Hamish Ross.

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