- Metro Vancouver rat pressure is up 18% year-over-year — the largest single-year increase since our records began. Strathcona, Mount Pleasant, and the West End saw the sharpest jumps.
- Carpenter ant infestation rate in pre-1945 heritage homes reached 68% — seven times higher than in post-2005 construction. Moisture intrusion on original cedar-shingle roofs remains the dominant driver.
- Bed-bug cases in multi-family buildings doubled year-over-year, driven by post-pandemic travel rebound and strata migration through shared plumbing chases. Hotel introductions remain the primary pathway.
- Wasp service calls declined 6%, the first drop in four years — likely a temporary effect of a cold, wet spring that delayed nest establishment. Expect a correction in Q3.
- BC’s 2023 SGAR (second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide) restriction is now showing downstream effects: we observed a measurable uptick in juvenile-rat survivorship through the mild 2025–2026 winter, contributing to the overall 18% rat-service-call increase.
The 10 Metro Vancouver neighbourhoods with the sharpest rat-activity increases.
Year-over-year change in residential rat-service volume, Q2 2026 vs Q2 2025, normalized to neighbourhood coverage density.
| # | Neighbourhood | YoY change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strathcona / Downtown Eastside | +42% |
| 2 | Mount Pleasant | +38% |
| 3 | West End (Vancouver) | +31% |
| 4 | Chinatown / Gastown | +28% |
| 5 | Kitsilano | +24% |
| 6 | Commercial Drive | +22% |
| 7 | North Burnaby (Hastings Sunrise border) | +19% |
| 8 | Fairview | +17% |
| 9 | New Westminster Uptown | +16% |
| 10 | Richmond City Centre | +14% |
Carpenter ant pressure is a housing-stock story — not a neighbourhood story.
Infestation rate (% of inspections finding active Camponotus modoc or vicinus colonies) by construction era.
| Construction era | Infestation rate |
|---|---|
| Pre-1945 heritage homes | 68% |
| 1945–1970 post-war homes | 54% |
| 1970–1985 ranch/split-level | 41% |
| 1985–2005 construction | 23% |
| Post-2005 construction | 9% |
How we measure Metro Vancouver pest pressure.
Data source. Every service record generated by The Wild Pest field team is logged to an internal database capturing: date, postal code, building-stock metadata (construction year, type, storeys), species-level pest identification (confirmed by BC Structural Pesticide Applicator-certified staff), infestation severity (1–5 scale), and treatment outcome. Q2 2026 analyzed 12,141 records collected between 2025-04-01 and 2026-03-31.
Neighbourhood rankings. Year-over-year change in service-call volume, normalized to our own neighbourhood coverage density to remove the effect of uneven contract distribution. Coverage density is calculated as active service contracts per 1,000 residential units in the catchment postal codes.
Infestation rates. For housing-stock analysis, we divide the number of inspections finding active colonies by the total number of inspections in that era. Construction year is self-reported by customers and cross-checked against BC Assessment data where possible.
Statistical caveats. Our dataset is not a random sample of Metro Vancouver households — it reflects homes that sought pest inspection. Results therefore describe pest pressure in homes with confirmed pest concern, not the population at large. For population-level estimates, we recommend pairing with BC Centre for Disease Control vector surveillance data.
Peer review. The Q2 2026 edition is first-party industry publication. We welcome methodology critique from UBC Entomology, SFU Plant Health, and credentialed researchers; corrections will be incorporated transparently in subsequent editions.
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