�ȵ����

Times are tough in Vancouver residential construction.

Vancouver developer and retired architect Michael Geller says rennie Intelligence estimated there were 3,400 completed and unsold condominiums on the market at the end of 2025, with thousands more in construction and not yet sold.

“Dozens of other condominium and rental projects have approvals in place but are not proceeding, since they are no longer financially viable,” says Geller.

Vancouver politicians have taken notice. City council recently approved a s it says will give the building industry some relief, especially for multi-unit projects.

They include a temporary 20 per cent reduction in development cost levies (DCLs); higher rent ceilings for apartments that were originally intended to rent at below-market rates; and the elimination of a requirement to provide community benefits by sourcing locally 10 per cent of materials and labour.

Josh White, Vancouver’s general manager, planning, urban design and sustainability, says the temporary reduction in DCLs will be re-evaluated when the city’s financing growth update is brought to council for approval, most likely in Q2 2026. 

Council says its measures will make it easier and less expensive to build homes and thereby make housing more affordable in the city. 

The city says its actions will improve the feasibility of more than 250 active projects, or over 20,000 new homes.

“If we want more homes that people can afford, we need to do our part to reduce development costs,” said Mayor Ken Sim in an announcement. “By making these changes now, we’re helping ensure that much-needed housing and construction can move forward, creating stability for residents and for our city’s long-term future.”

Jeannine Martin, president of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association, says of the city’s measures “we welcome any relief.”

“Overall, this is a positive and necessary step that we hope helps governments recognize the pressures facing construction, including rising costs and financing challenges, and keeps housing projects viable and moving forward,” says Martin.

“The intent seems to be getting stalled projects moving again, assuming the city has consulted with developers on what will actually help. But cost escalation comes from many factors – labour shortages, tariffs and delays caused by lengthy permitting timelines.”

Geller says he is currently involved in three projects in the city that are not financially viable due to high municipal fees and charges.

“Many of these payments are holdovers from four or five years ago when the local market was better and times were good,” says Geller. “But times have changed, and the city is now acknowledging the unfairness of those charges.”

Geller says the city’s changes will be just enough to nudge some projects into going ahead, but additional fee reductions are still needed.

“The city is doing the right thing,” he says. “Time will tell if the relief is enough.”

Retired City of Burnaby senior development planner Robert Renger, on the other hand, is not a fan of Vancouver’s measures. 

“They interfere with the market correction that has been reducing land prices for development sites in Vancouver, in part through insolvencies and court-ordered sales,” says Renger.

Renger says the city is saddling Vancouver taxpayers with future infrastructure costs.

“They’re doing it by reducing and eliminating previously defined and agreed-upon development cost charges and community benefits, in order to prop up land values and lessen losses for developers and lenders who misjudged the market,” he says. “They thought the increasing strata prices would continue, but the market became saturated. They also thought high immigration would continue, but that decreased, too.”

Renger says Vancouver’s change might help some marginal cases to proceed.

“More likely, the changes will increase prices for court-ordered sales of development sites following insolvencies, lessening losses for lenders,” he says.

Former City of Vancouver and Metro Vancouver planner Christina DeMarco says, “The timing and the consequences make me nervous. There are falling rental rates, increasing vacancies and a backlog of condo projects on the market. That means we have time to take meaningful action on the city’s housing challenges without subsidizing developers.”

In a note to the mayor and council, DeMarco told them, “there is no need to press the panic button on the sluggish rental and condo markets.

“Renters have lots of choice among newer units in the city and elsewhere in the region and are able to negotiate generous move-in discounts. I am old enough to have witnessed many booms and busts in both the housing market and office market, and we always made it through to the other side.”