Multiplex mortgages from Vancity have backed over 45 projects with more than $60 million in funding since the product's soft launch last year, adding to the Vancouver credit union’s portfolio of financing for missing middle housing.

A retail banking facility created for land owners to redevelop a single-family home into a multiunit building, the Multiplex Construction Mortgage went to market in fall 2025. It offers purpose-built financing for construction of stratified duplex, triplex and fourplex projects, and is available to most municipalities in British Columbia.

While some Canadian banks (such as RBC and TD Bank) and even the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) offer loans for multiplex development, Vancity believes it is the only financial institution in the country with a retail product for financing multiplex construction under a personal name, as opposed to the more common commercial lending under a corporate name.

“We wanted to provide a retail financing solution to citizen developers that are able to help develop their properties, rather than going through traditional commercial financing,” Ryan McKinley, Vancity’s retail lead for strategic housing initiatives, said in an interview with RENX Homes.

Who the mortgage is tailored for

Vancity’s goal with the Multiplex Construction Mortgage is “to empower citizen developers rather than traditional developers, and try to add more density through missing middle housing,” McKinley said.

The credit union’s aim is to let British Columbians take advantage of Bill 44. Passed in 2023, the law requires municipalities in the province to update their regulations in favour of small-scale multiunit development such as removing zoning barriers to denser housing.

The mortgage is offered to property owners in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Victoria, Squamish and Alert Bay. Vancity will cover up to 80 per cent of the project costs. It only requires repaying the interest on the funding that has been advanced for the first 18 months of construction - or until the construction is finished.

McKinley gave two examples of potential projects under the mortgage: demolishing a single-family home and replacing it with a multiplex, or adding new units to an existing property.

While geared toward citizen developers, investors can also apply for the multiplex mortgage. It could even be a group of people who want to purchase and develop a property, McKinley said.

Since its soft launch, Vancity has seen the most demand for the mortgage from Metro Vancouver and to a lesser extent in the Lower Mainland and Kelowna.

It has seen the most uptake from people approaching retirement with adult children who have owned their home for a long time and have built up substantial equity. A multiplex would allow for such applicants to assist their children and grandchildren with the high cost of housing, McKinley said, and assist the owner to age in place.

One scenario he gave is a family that builds a laneway home in the back for the grandparents and a triplex in the front – one unit in the triplex could be for the grandparents’ child and his or her family. The remaining two units could be rented out or sold.

Rounding out Vancity's missing middle financing

Vancity, McKinley said, is seeing more interest in multiplex development, and he expects demand to snowball as more people see the buildings in their neighbourhoods.

Governments in British Columbia have taken action to promote the development and construction of multiunit housing in an effort to combat housing costs, which are some of the highest in Canada. Other than Bill 44, the provincial government passed a law named Bill 46 to help raise the funds for infrastructure needed to support housing growth, for example.

The endeavour may be bearing fruit. In its Spring 2026 Housing Supply Report, the CMHC found missing middle construction on the rise in Metro Vancouver, particularly semi‑detached housing in Burnaby.

The multiplex mortgage complements Vancity’s laneway housing mortgage, launched to support another form of missing middle housing. The Multiplex Construction Mortgage “rounds out that offering,” McKinley said.

Vancity is also exploring other funding for solutions to British Columbia’s housing shortage, he said, including rent-to-own, shared equity and co-ownership models.