The insurance appraisal cycle

The median BC strata is insured for about $430,000 of replacement value per unit. That number comes from an appraisal, the appraisal runs on a three-year cycle, and it rises a few percent at almost every renewal.

Every BC strata corporation has to insure its buildings for full replacement value: what it would cost to rebuild them from the foundations up after a total loss. [1] Nobody knows that number off the top of their head, so the strata pays an appraiser to work it out, and the insurer reads it off the appraisal. It is the least discussed number in the strata documents and arguably the one that sets everything else. We took 2,000+ samples drawn from our pool of BC strata reviews and read the appraisal records, the insurance certificates and the budget lines that pay for the appraisal.

Nearly every building has one, and it is usually fresh

Nearly nine BC stratas in ten have a completed insurance appraisal on record, and a few percent more are getting quotes, waiting on the report or talking about it at council. Appraisals that have been deferred or ruled out are close to nonexistent. That is not virtue so much as necessity: insurers ask for a replacement cost appraisal from the last two or three years before they will write the policy on a full-value basis. [1]

The appraisals are also current. When we read the documents, the appraisal on file had a median age of about two and a half months, and the middle half were between brand new and about seven months old. About 88% were under a year old, about 8% were one to two years old, and only about one in fifty was three years old or more. The reason is the way the work is sold.

How the three-year cycle works

A strata appraisal is usually bought as a three-year program. In year one the appraiser visits the site, measures the buildings and prices the reconstruction. In years two and three the appraiser issues an update without a new inspection, adjusting the figure for construction costs, and those updates are often included in the original fee. [2] The Strata Property Act asks council to review the adequacy of the insurance every year and report on it at the AGM, which is what the update letters are for. [1]

The documents show the cycle running almost evenly. Where a certificate or the minutes state the position in the cycle, about a third say year one, a little under a third say year two and about a third say year three. So in any given year roughly a third of BC stratas are paying for a full site appraisal and the rest are on an update. The cost is small next to anything else on the insurance side: where the latest approved budget carries a separate appraisal line, the median is about $900 a year, with the middle half between about $450 and $1,000.

The appraisal costs about $900 a year. The number it produces decides what the strata insures, and so what it pays for insurance.

What a door is worth to rebuild

On the latest certificates, the median BC strata is insured for about $33 million of replacement value, with the middle half between about $16 million and $69 million. Per unit, that is about $430,000, with the middle half between about $360,000 and $530,000. Per square foot of floor area, that is about $300, with the middle half between about $250 and $380.

Construction moves the figure more than size does. The median wood-frame strata is insured for about $390,000 per unit and the median concrete strata for about $510,000, roughly 30% more, which is what you would expect from parkades, elevators and a concrete frame. By building size the medians sit in a narrow band, about $410,000 to $460,000 per unit, with the smallest buildings at the top. Unlike reserve funds, replacement value does not get diluted by adding doors: every unit needs its own walls, floors and plumbing rebuilt.

The figure goes up almost every year

Following the same buildings from one policy year to the next, the insured value rose by a median of about 3.5% a year, with the middle half of buildings between about 3% and 6%. Only about one building in thirty saw its figure stay flat or fall. The pace has eased: the median increase was about 6.2% on 2024 renewals, 3.4% on 2025 renewals and 2.8% on 2026 renewals so far. That tracks the construction-cost indexes, which showed residential building costs across Canada's large metro areas up 3.7% year over year in the second quarter of 2025. [3] The appraisal is, in effect, a construction-cost index applied to one building.

How the appraisal drives the premium

Insurers price property cover as a rate on the insured value. On BC certificates that state a premium, the median works out to about $2.10 of premium per $1,000 of insured value, with the middle half between about $1.80 and $2.70. At the median value per unit, that is roughly $900 per door per year, a little under the median insurance line in BC operating budgets, about $1,100 per unit, which also carries deductible reserves and broker fees. It also means a 3.5% rise in the appraisal adds about $15,000 of insured value per unit and, at a steady rate, about $30 per unit to the premium, before the market does anything at all.

Getting the number wrong in the other direction is the expensive mistake. If a building is insured below its true replacement value, the strata can find itself short after a large loss, and policies with a co-insurance clause can reduce even a partial claim when the insured value falls below the required share of replacement cost. [1] [2] That is why the update letters keep coming.

What to do with this

• If you are buying: the insurance certificate in the Form B package shows the replacement value. Divide it by the unit count and put it next to the chart above, and check the appraisal date or cycle year printed near it.

• If you are on council: a jump well above a few percent usually means a year-one site appraisal found something the updates missed. Read the report before renewal, not after.

• If you want your area: insurance benchmarks by neighbourhood are on StrataStats.

How we counted. Based on 2,000+ samples drawn from our pool of BC strata reviews. Figures come from the insurance certificates, appraisal references, approved operating budgets and meeting minutes in those samples, mostly 2024 to 2026. Replacement value is the property limit on each corporation's latest certificate, divided by its total unit count. Appraisal age is measured from the appraisal date to the date of the documents we read. Year-on-year change compares the same corporation's property limit in consecutive policy years. Premium rates use certificates that state a premium. Figures are medians and the middle half (p25 to p75), rounded to two significant figures. No building is identified. If you use these figures, a link back to this post is appreciated.

Further reading

1. Insurance for strata corporations, Province of British Columbia

2. What you need to know about strata insurance, Acera Insurance

3. Building construction price indexes, second quarter 2025, Statistics Canada