Nanaimo developments

[Islandtime]

Soaring costs and minimal space shifting Nanaimo to higher-density living

NANAIMO — As the mid-Island’s population expands, increased building costs and a lack of space are shifting new home construction trends, with governments at all levels encouraging the change.

Single-family home construction has taken a back seat to higher-density builds, spurred on by government initiatives such as Bill 44 in 2023, allowing multi-unit housing on traditionally single-family lots, with the City of Nanaimo on board with four units per lot.

Jeremy Holm, the City’s Director of planning and development, said several factors have gone into this shift, felt in communities across Canada.

“The increased costs of housing both in terms of land value and materials and labour has been a challenge in many, many communities, and Nanaimo is definitely not immune from that. So between the lack of rental housing being constructed, and the cost escalation of housing, especially single-family housing, I think that’s pricing single-family homes out of a lot of people’s reach,” Holm told NanaimoNewsNOW.

While the B.C. government is pushing higher density, the City of Nanaimo has as well with its City Plan: Nanaimo Reimagined document in 2012, which includes encouraging housing and commercial density around urban centes near transit nodes.

While new, higher-density developments are being built across the city, Holm said parts of Nanaimo are seeing more builds than others, notably around the downtown, Old City Quarter, and south end neighbourhoods.

https://nanaimonewsnow.com/2026/07/30/so...ifting-nanaimo-to-higher-density-living/