For most Punjabi families pooling money to buy a Hamilton rental, I lean toward a triplex. In the last 12 months, Hamilton triplexes asked a median of $266,633 per unit. Up-and-down duplexes asked $374,725 per unit. Those figures come from our Hamilton duplex, triplex and fourplex price report. They are asking prices, not sale prices. Even so, a triplex gets you a third rent cheque for a lot less money per door.
The catch is the down payment. If someone in the family lives in the building, a triplex needs at least 10% down. A duplex can start at 5% on the first $500,000. So the triplex wins on rent and asks more on day one.
I'm Gary Tiwana, a Realtor with Found Spaces since 2018. My family is from Patiala. I grew up speaking Punjabi at home, and I live on the Stoney Creek side of Hamilton. You can read more about me and how I work. Most of the families I sit down with are coming from Brampton, Mississauga or Toronto. Many are brothers, cousins, or parents and grown kids buying together. Here is how I'd think about duplex versus triplex this month.
What one unit costs in Hamilton right now
These are the median asking prices from the last 12 months of Hamilton listings:
- Duplex, side by side: $694,450, or $347,225 per unit (22 listings)
- Duplex, up and down: $749,450, or $374,725 per unit (117 listings)
- Triplex: $799,900, or $266,633 per unit (68 listings)
- Fourplex: $999,999, or $250,000 per unit (28 listings)
Look at the gap between the up-and-down duplex and the triplex. It's about $50,000 more for the whole building, and you get a whole extra unit.
The up-and-down duplex is the easy one to find. There were 117 of them listed. That is more than every other type put together. When something is common and familiar, families tend to buy it without checking the other choices first, and in this market that habit can cost them a full unit of rent for the same budget.
For context, the average freehold house in Hamilton sold for $733,622 in October 2026, down 2% from a year earlier, according to our Hamilton market report. That is close to the price of a single-family home. Homes took 40 days to sell on average that month. Forty days is time to look, think and make a calm offer.
Rent per $100,000 tells you more than the price
This next part is illustrative math. It is not a promise.
We track asking rents from lease listings. For the 12 months to November 7, 2026, the median asking rent for a self-contained unit in Hamilton was $1,799 a month. That means an apartment-style unit, or one or two bedrooms inside a house.
Say every unit rented at that number.
The triplex brings in about $5,397 a month before bills. That's roughly $675 for every $100,000 of asking price.
The up-and-down duplex brings in about $3,598 a month. That's roughly $480 for every $100,000.
To be fair to the duplex, the main floor of an up-and-down is often a bigger unit than the units in a triplex. It may rent for more than $1,799. I don't have a clean rent number for duplex main floors alone, so I won't make one up. What I do is ask for the real leases on that building and run them through our rental math standard. That page shows how we count bills, empty months and the mortgage, so the family sees the true monthly picture.
My view: start your search with the triplex and make the duplex prove it's better, not the other way around.
Who lives in the building changes the down payment
This is where most family plans either work or fall apart.
If someone in the family lives in one unit, CMHC (Canada's housing agency) rules apply. These rules are friendlier.
For a duplex with an owner living in it, the minimum down payment is the same as a regular house. That's 5% on the first $500,000 and 10% on the rest. On a $749,450 duplex, that works out to about $49,945. The bank can also count up to 100% of the rent from the other unit when it works out what you can afford. "Rent" here means rent before any bills.
For a triplex or fourplex with an owner living in it, you need at least 10% down. On a $799,900 triplex, that's about $79,990. The bank counts up to 50% of the rent from the other units.
If nobody in the family will live there, it becomes a pure rental. Banks usually want at least 20% down for that.
For a Punjabi family, the owner-lives-there option is often natural. Parents move into the main unit. Or a newly married son and his wife take one floor. The family gets a home and a rental at once. It's the same reason so many of us grew up with grandparents under the same roof.
Picture how this plays out for three brothers
Picture three brothers renting separate apartments in Brampton, each paying around $2,000 a month. Alone, none of them has enough saved for a down payment. Together they have about $80,000, and their parents want to live with one of them. They look at a Hamilton duplex first because it feels familiar, then do the math on a triplex at around $800,000. The parents and one brother live in one unit, and the other two units rent out. Now the rent from two units helps pay the mortgage, and the whole family has a real home base. (Round numbers, for illustration only.)
The point of that picture is simple. Pooled money goes further when it buys more doors.
Where in Hamilton I'd look, and what I check first
Neighbourhood matters as much as building type. Our multiplex report breaks down duplex, triplex and fourplex asking prices by neighbourhood. I don't have those neighbourhood numbers in front of me for this post, so check the table there before you fall for any one street.
Here's what I watch instead of a single number:
- Near McMaster in Westdale and Ainslie Wood, students keep demand steady. Student tenants also turn over every year, so expect more empty weeks in the summer.
- Near Mohawk College on the Mountain, the renters are a mix of students and young workers. Many families like the Mountain because it feels closer to Stoney Creek and the highway.
- The lower city has many older houses that were split into units long ago. Some are fine. Some were never made legal.
On my side of town, in Stoney Creek, the families I work with more often look at a house that can take a legal second unit than a ready-made triplex.
One habit of mine: before any duplex or triplex showing, I ask the listing agent in writing whether each unit is legal, and for copies of the current leases. If the answer is vague, I tell my buyers before we even get in the car. A unit that isn't legal can mean costly work later, and the bank may not count its rent.
If you want the bigger picture of buying rentals in this city, our page on Hamilton investment properties covers it.
What to do this month
Pick one number before you look at a single listing. That number is the most the family can put down together, in cash, today.
Then decide who, if anyone, will live in the building. Those two answers tell you whether a duplex, a triplex or a fourplex is even on the table. Most families I meet skip this step and start scrolling listings, and then they fall in love with a building they can't buy. Settle the money and the living plan first. The search gets much shorter.
Questions people ask
Is a fourplex cheaper per unit than a triplex in Hamilton?
Yes, a little. The median Hamilton fourplex asked $999,999, or $250,000 per unit, over the last 12 months. But only 28 were listed in that time, so you have fewer to choose from. If a family member lives in one unit, the minimum down payment is still 10%.
How fast do rental units lease in Hamilton?
For the 12 months to November 7, 2026, a self-contained unit took a median of 15 days to lease from its listing. Condo apartments took 12 days, and townhouses only 6. These are asking rents from lease listings, so signed rents can be a bit different.
Is Stoney Creek a good place to buy a family rental right now?
Stoney Creek was slower than Hamilton in October 2026. It had 30 sales, down 25% from a year earlier, and the average freehold price was $737,246, down 14%, per our Stoney Creek market report. Homes took 50 days to sell, and 184 were for sale. Slower markets often give buyers more room to negotiate.
Talk it through with me, in Punjabi or English
If your family is pooling money for a Hamilton rental, the first step is one short conversation about the cash you have and who will live there. Your parents are welcome on the call too. Book a time to talk with us here.