In the opening days of British Columbia's snap election campaign, NDP Leader David Eby stood before an unfinished Burnaby tower and offered a diagnosis of the province's housing crisis: finished homes sitting idle while families cannot afford shelter. His proposed remedy — a graduated tax on unsold condominiums and steeper vacancy levies — reflects an enduring tension in democratic governance between the impulse to intervene in markets and the risk that intervention reshapes incentives in ways no one fully anticipates. The announcement places housing not merely as a policy question but as a mo
B.C. NDP proposes condo tax to unlock 5,000 empty units in housing affordability push
They are brand new. They are ready for people to move in.
Mark
So Eby is saying there are 5,000 finished condos sitting empty in Metro Vancouver worth $4.4 billion. That's a real number, right?
Mimi
That's what Real Property Data reported, and Eby cited it. The units are built and ready to occupy, but they're not selling.
Luke
But we should note—that $4.4 billion figure and the 5,000-unit estimate come from one source. We don't have independent verification of those numbers in this reporting.
Mark
Fair point. So the tax starts at two per cent and goes up one per cent per year. How does that actually force someone to sell?
Mimi
The theory is that holding costs become too high. If you're a developer with a $500,000 unit, two per cent is $10,000 in year one, $20,000 in year two. Eventually the tax outweighs the benefit of waiting for prices to rise.
Luke
Theoretically. But Ogmundson's point is worth taking seriously—if a developer is already struggling financially, this tax might just push them into default rather than force a sale at a loss.
Mark
And the speculation and vacancy tax increase—that's separate, right? That's on owners, not developers?
Mimi
Right. That's for people who own homes or condos and leave them empty. Eby wants to raise it to two per cent for domestic owners, five per cent for foreign owners.
Luke
That tax has been in place since the previous NDP government. So this is an escalation of an existing tool, not a new idea.
Mark
What's the actual gap between what Eby is proposing and what's already happening with the federal-provincial purchase plan?
Mimi
That's the thing—it's not clear. The government said in June it would buy 2,220 vacant units and convert them to affordable housing. Now Eby is proposing a tax to unlock 5,000 units. Are these complementary strategies or overlapping ones?
Luke
And Eby promised details on the purchase plan in the fall, but then called an election. So we're not getting those details before voters decide.
Mark
So voters are choosing based on incomplete information about how these pieces fit together.
Luke
Exactly. We know what the tax would do in theory. We don't know how it interacts with the purchase plan, or what happens to developers who can't sell even under tax pressure.
El Pulso
- Thousands of completed condos sit empty across Metro Vancouver while renters and buyers are priced out — Eby is calling this a crisis of political will, not just market failure.
- The proposed tax starts at 2% of a unit's value and climbs each year it remains unsold, a pressure mechanism designed to force developers' hands before prices can drift higher.
- Economists and real estate professionals are sounding alarms, warning that taxing developers already bleeding in a weak market could choke off future construction and deepen the very shortage the policy aims to cure.
- Conservatives are framing the announcement as proof that nine years of NDP governance has produced only more taxes, pointing to falling housing starts as evidence the party's instincts are misaligned with the problem.
- A parallel federal-provincial plan to purchase over 2,220 vacant units for affordable conversion is already underway, but how the two strategies fit together — or whether they conflict — remains unanswered.
In the opening days of British Columbia's snap election campaign, NDP Leader David Eby stood before an unfinished Burnaby tower and offered a diagnosis of the province's housing crisis: finished homes sitting idle while families cannot afford shelter. His proposed remedy — a graduated tax on unsold condominiums and steeper vacancy levies — reflects an enduring tension in democratic governance between the impulse to intervene in markets and the risk that intervention reshapes incentives in ways no one fully anticipates. The announcement places housing not merely as a policy question but as a moral one, asking who bears responsibility when shelter becomes a speculative asset.
David Eby opened his snap election campaign in front of a Burnaby condo complex and made housing the defining battleground. His central argument: developers are warehousing finished units, waiting for prices to climb, while British Columbians pay punishing rents and cannot buy. His solution is a new tax — starting at two per cent of a unit's assessed value for condos empty more than a year, rising one point annually — that he says could unlock roughly 5,000 units worth $4.4 billion across Metro Vancouver.
Eby also announced increases to the existing speculation and vacancy tax, pushing rates to two per cent for domestic owners and five per cent for foreign ones. He framed the entire package as a stand against developer interests he accused of aligning with the Conservative Party, casting the October 24 vote as a choice between intervention for struggling residents and a free-market approach that leaves people without homes.
The opposition was quick to push back. Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson argued that the NDP's instinct — reach for a tax — has defined nine years of government and produced falling housing starts and declining sales. The very paradox Eby was trying to solve, Doerkson suggested, was one the NDP helped create.
Economists added a more structural concern. SFU's Andy Yan questioned whether the tax was designed to change developer behaviour or simply generate revenue — two very different goals requiring very different designs. The B.C. Real Estate Association's chief economist warned of "disastrous potential," arguing that developers already struggling in a soft market cannot be taxed into selling without impairing their capacity to build in the future.
The announcement also intersects with an earlier federal-provincial initiative, announced in June, to purchase more than 2,220 vacant condos and convert them into affordable housing. How that program and the new tax interact — whether they reinforce or undercut each other — remains an open question as the campaign accelerates toward its four-week finish.
David Eby stood in front of a Burnaby condo complex under construction and made a promise: if the NDP wins the October 24 election, his government will tax unsold condominiums. The proposal arrived in the first week of the snap election campaign Eby had just called, and it landed as a direct challenge to what he sees as developers warehousing finished units while British Columbians struggle to find affordable housing.
The tax would target condos that sit empty for more than a year after completion. It would start at two per cent of the unit's value and climb by one percentage point for each additional year the property remains unsold. Eby's office estimates the measure could free up roughly 5,000 units across Metro Vancouver—properties worth $4.4 billion according to a Real Property Data report he cited. "They are brand new," Eby said of these units. "They are ready for people to move in. They have been built." His framing was direct: developers should not be allowed to sit on finished housing while waiting for prices to rise, not when families are paying sky-high rents and struggling to buy.
The NDP leader also announced plans to increase the existing speculation and vacancy tax—a levy the previous NDP government introduced to discourage foreign and domestic owners from leaving homes empty. Under Eby's proposal, the rate would jump to two per cent for domestic owners and five per cent for foreign owners. The tax currently applies across Metro Vancouver, the Capital Regional District around Victoria, and 26 other municipalities. Eby positioned the move as part of a broader stand against what he called developer interests aligned with the Conservative Party, framing the election as a choice between intervention on behalf of struggling residents and a free-market approach that, in his view, leaves people without homes.
The response from the political opposition was swift and skeptical. Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson attacked the announcement in a written statement, arguing that after nine years of NDP government, housing starts are falling, home sales are down, and the party's answer remains the same: more taxes. "There is no problem the NDP don't think can be fixed with a tax," Doerkson said. He pointed to the paradox Eby was trying to solve—thousands of finished homes sitting empty because nobody can afford them—as evidence that taxation alone cannot fix the underlying affordability crisis.
Economists and real estate professionals expressed confusion and concern. Andy Yan, director of the city program at Simon Fraser University, said the announcement raised fundamental questions about its actual purpose. "Is this tax meant to change behaviour or is this tax meant as a route of revenue?" he asked. Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist with the British Columbia Real Estate Association, went further, warning of "disastrous potential." He argued that developers want to sell their units but face poor market conditions and financial strain. Forcing sales through taxation, he suggested, could impair developers' ability to build in the future, ultimately worsening long-term housing supply rather than improving it.
The timing of Eby's announcement intersects with an existing federal-provincial initiative. In June, the NDP government and Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a plan to purchase more than 2,220 vacant condominiums across B.C. and convert them into affordable housing. Eby had promised additional details in the fall, but the snap election call has compressed the timeline. The condo tax proposal appears to extend that earlier strategy, though the relationship between the two approaches—one focused on government purchase and conversion, the other on taxation and market incentives—remains unclear.
When asked about polling that showed his party trailing the Conservatives, Eby deflected, noting it was early in the campaign. The election is set for October 24, giving voters roughly four weeks to weigh the NDP's housing interventions against the Conservative critique that such measures may address symptoms rather than root causes. The question of whether taxation can unlock housing or whether it will simply punish developers already struggling in a weak market will likely define a significant portion of the campaign debate.
Citas Notables
There is no problem the NDP don't think can be fixed with a tax.— Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson
Apparently the government believes that developers should be forced to sell, even if it means impairing their ability to build in the future, and therefore our ability to improve long-run affordability.— Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist, British Columbia Real Estate Association
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