BC Commits $775M to Housing While Vancouver Condos Sit Empty

(Image courtesy of CBC)

As Metro Vancouver heads toward a projected 3,500 unsold condos by the end of 2025, the BC government is committing over $775 million in public funds to build 4,600 new rental homes — raising questions about how housing money is being spent during a deep affordability crisis.

These empty condo figures come from a report on Metro Vancouver’s housing market by real estate brokerage firm Rennie, released in April, which had some interesting statistics about Vancouver’s housing market. While it stated that both 2023 and 2024 were highly productive in terms of condominium housing starts, pre-sale activity had waned significantly. 

In 2023, with more than 33,000 housing starts, there were only a measly 11,500 pre-sale transactions recorded. For 2024, the ratio was dismal, with 28,000 starts and 10,000 pre-sales.  “Starts" refers to the number of new residential construction projects that have begun during a specific period. 

This has led to Rennie’s calculation that there are approximately 2,179 unsold units in the inventory, expected to accumulate to 3,493 by the end of 2025. 

Rennie also pointed out that while ownership is the majority of housing construction, the total share has been declining since the beginning of the decade. Rennie concludes that the carrying costs of “the amount of unsold completed housing inventory is growing, and that will be a drag on future development.”

What’s Next?

Housing has been a significant concern for an increasing number of Canadians in recent years, with affordability being a primary reason many are unable to participate in homeownership. This played a large role in the recent Canadian federal elections. According to a YouGov poll conducted in April, housing remained a top-five issue for Canadian voters ahead of the election. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Liberal government recently released their policy plan on the subject, which they described as “Canada’s most ambitious housing plan since the Second World War.” 

Former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson has been appointed as the federal Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities. When asked by Global News if housing prices should go down, Robertson said, “No, I think that we need to deliver more supply, make sure the market is stable.”

Housing is a heavy topic in Canadian politics, intersecting with a range of issues Canadians face like affordability. Rennie’s report on Vancouver’s housing does not spell out a certain and stable future for that market, despite the provincial government’s recent commitments.