Over 2,000 units sit empty amid economic uncertainty and affordability crisis
More than 2,000 newly built condominiums in Metro Vancouver remain unsold and empty, with that number projected to rise to nearly 3,500 by the end of the year, according to a recently released report.
“Condo listings are probably the highest we’ve seen them in years,” said Realtor Adil Dinani. “Sixteen thousand listings overall in the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board. It’s the first time in 10 years.”
The oversupply is having a ripple effect across the region’s housing development pipeline. Pre-sales have slowed to such an extent that some developers are pausing or canceling projects. Dinani cited one recent example in Burnaby where a developer opted to cancel a project and returned all pre-sale deposits.
Economists attribute the growing inventory and weak buyer interest to broader affordability issues and mounting uncertainty around Canada’s economic future.
“I think it’s just a reflection of a couple of factors,” Bryan Yu, chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union, told Global News. “Low affordability and a lot of the uncertainty around the economy and those trade shocks right now.”
Andrew Lis, director of economics and data analytics at the Greater Vancouver Realtors (GVR), pointed to the unusual mix of economic and political conditions weighing on the market.
“What’s also unusual is starting the year with Canada’s largest trading partner threatening to tilt our economy into recession via trade policy, while at the same time having Canadians head to the polls to elect a new federal government,” he said. “These issues have been hard to ignore, and the April home sales figures suggest some buyers have continued to patiently wait out the storm.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to double housing starts as part of his administration’s plan to increase affordability and bring long-term stability to the market.
“Once we increase, as a country, the rate of home building, then that is going to make home prices much lower than they otherwise would be,” Carney said during a media availability in Rome on Sunday.
Recently appointed Housing Minister Gregor Robertson, the former Vancouver mayor, echoed that sentiment but emphasized the need to maintain market stability rather than aggressively push prices down.
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“No, I think that we need to deliver more supply, make sure the market is stable,” Robertson told reporters when asked whether home prices need to fall.
Robertson said his immediate priority is to focus on delivering more affordable housing.
“We need to be delivering more affordable housing. The government of Canada has not been building affordable housing since the ’90s and we’ve created a huge shortage across Canada,” he said.
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