When we talk about housing affordability here in BC, it’s easy to focus just on home prices. But as I’ve seen working across neighbourhoods in Surrey, Vancouver, and beyond, the real story is more layered. For homeownership to truly be within reach, incomes matter just as much as listing prices—something that’s often overlooked in the debate.
Recently, the provincial government proposed a tax on vacant, unsold new condos, hoping to motivate developers to move inventory and bring prices down for buyers. It’s a timely move because our market was already in a phase of correction, with slow sales, few presales, and developers under pressure from high construction and financing costs.
Here’s a fact that stands out: Real estate and construction make up about 28% of BC’s GDP, and construction alone supports over 190,000 jobs. That’s why affordability isn’t just about what you pay for a home, but also about how strong incomes are in our communities.
The lesson for all of us—buyers, sellers, and industry professionals alike—is to keep pushing for solutions that go beyond prices. We need to keep working on both the supply side and the income side: investing in job creation, productivity, and a diversified economy to ensure that owning a home can be a real possibility for more families.
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