Where it is
North Burnaby is the part of Burnaby north of the Lougheed Highway, from Boundary Road east to Burnaby Mountain, with Burrard Inlet along its northern edge. On this page it means that whole area, and the figures and homes above are drawn from listings inside it. Hastings Street runs through the middle, downtown Vancouver is about twenty minutes west, and the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge takes you to the North Shore.
A little history
Real estate companies began buying up and subdividing land here around 1908, selling lots in the new Vancouver Heights and Capitol Hill subdivisions. By 1909 developers were calling Capitol Hill “Burnaby’s newest neighbourhood,” named after Rome’s Capitoline Hill. Confederation Park, North Burnaby’s first park, began as a 1909 subdivision too. On the waterfront, a sawmill and a small mill village grew up at Barnet around the same time; the site is now Barnet Marine Park.
The neighbourhoods
- The Heights: between Boundary Road and Gamma Avenue, north of Hastings. Hastings Street here is a real local high street of cafés, bakeries and family restaurants, with heritage houses on the side streets. The City lights this stretch of Hastings from November to March, and Hats Off Day, the neighbourhood’s street festival, comes back every year.
- Capitol Hill: north of Hastings, between Willingdon and Fell, rising to about 203 metres, with some of the widest views in the city. The Capitol Hill guide
- Brentwood: around Lougheed Highway and Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby’s tallest towers and a new town centre beside the SkyTrain. The Brentwood guide
- Burnaby Mountain: Simon Fraser University, the Burnaby Mountain conservation area and, in Burnaby Mountain Park, Kamui Mintara (“Playground of the Gods”), carved by the Ainu sculptor Toko Nuburi and his son Shusei as a gift from Burnaby’s sister city, Kushiro.
The outdoors
Confederation Park is one of Burnaby’s largest parks, with a miniature steam train, a skate plaza, a spray park and a wooded north side. The Eileen Dailly Leisure Pool sits beside it, with the McGill branch of the library nearby. A stretch of the Trans Canada Trail runs along the inlet below Capitol Hill, Barnet Marine Park has a beach and a pier on Burrard Inlet, and Burnaby Mountain’s trails are minutes away.
The homes
North Burnaby has a bit of everything: character houses and newer family homes in The Heights, view homes on Capitol Hill’s steep streets, townhomes on the slopes, and condos and rentals in the towers of Brentwood. Many older lots have been rebuilt with larger houses, often with a suite.
Schools
North Burnaby is in the Burnaby School District (SD41). Burnaby North Secondary on Hammarskjold Drive, rebuilt and reopened in 2024, now has room for 1,800 students, one of the largest schools in the province, with child care and a neighbourhood learning centre in the same building. Alpha Secondary and Burnaby Mountain Secondary also serve parts of North Burnaby. Catchments depend on the exact address, so check before you make an offer. Why catchments matter
Buying in North Burnaby
- Houses: the age of the house and its systems, any old oil tank, drainage on the slopes, and whether a suite is legal.
- Views: on Capitol Hill, what could be built next door or below you matters as much as the view today.
- Towers: the strata’s finances and bylaws, and for presales, the deposit structure and completion dates. Buying a presale in BC
The numbers above tell you what the market is like today. A walk-through with me tells you the rest.
