Eby's BC NDP promises new tax on unsold condos, higher vacancy tax | Daily Hive

David Eby. (BC NDP)

Just three days into the provincial election campaign, BC NDP leader David Eby is promising a major new interventionist measure on housing supply.

He is proposing to implement a new additional tax on developers who leave newly-completed strata market ownership condominium homes empty and unsold for more than one year, with the charge growing the longer the homes remain without buyers.

In an announcement today, the platform promise would introduce an “Unsold Condo Tax” and further increase the provincial government’s existing Speculation and Vacancy Tax (SVT). The party argues the measures would encourage developers to lower their asking prices and push owners of vacant properties to find long-term tenants.

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This proposed unsold condominium tax would start at two per cent, rising by one per cent for each additional year a unit remains unsold.

“People shouldn’t pay sky-high prices to rent or buy a home while developers sit on thousands of finished condos waiting for prices to go up,” said Eby.

The BC NDP estimates the plan could help bring as many as 5,000 newly built vacant condominiums into active use.

Citing a September 2026 report by Real Property Data, the party notes the unsold condominiums have a combined estimated value of $4.45 billion. More than 1,300 were completed over two years ago, while some have been finished since 2019.

Eby’s separate promise to increase the SVT would double the rate for domestic owners subject to the tax, from one per cent to two per cent. He is also proposing a five per cent rate for foreign owners.

The updated foreign owner tax scheme would go beyond an increase previously announced in the 2026 provincial budget announced early this year, which would raise the rate for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners from three per cent to four per cent for the 2027 tax year.

The party asserts the higher vacancy taxes would give owners a stronger financial reason to make their properties available for long-term rentals. Any additional revenue from that increase would be directed towards building affordable housing.

“At a time when Trump’s trade war is increasing prices here, we need to do everything we can to bring down people’s everyday costs — starting with housing costs,” said Eby.

Eby also claimed housing prices are falling faster in British Columbia than elsewhere in Canada. He accused the Conservative Party of B.C. of opposing the BC NDP’s approach and argued that reversing its policies would drive rents higher.

The announcement today did not provide an implementation date for the proposed taxes or explain how the taxable value of unsold condominiums would be determined. It also did not outline potential exemptions or a maximum rate for the new condo tax.

The proposal for a new tax on unsold condominium supply stands in sharp contrast to the approach Eby announced with Prime Minister Mark Carney in June 2026. Their condominium conversion partnership called for government-backed financing to turn more than 2,200 vacant condominiums across the province into affordable homes, with a rent-to-own component.

That earlier plan sparked significant criticism from the official opposition, media, and public that it would amount to bailing out developers and propping up prices that buyers were unwilling or unable to pay. At the time, Eby rejected that characterization, saying the purchase prices paid by the provincial and federal governments would be below construction costs, and developers would be expected to take losses.

The latest proposal shifts the emphasis from helping finance purchases of developers’ unsold condominiums to imposing a growing financial penalty for leaving them empty, with the aim of pressuring sellers to lower prices. Both approaches seek to get people into existing homes, but the campaign announcement did not explain whether the earlier purchase initiative would continue or how it would work alongside the proposed tax.

It also remains unclear how the unsold condominium tax would affect future housing supply. Developers are already grappling with substantial unsold inventories and weak sales, high borrowing and construction costs, and high costs associated with municipal taxes, development charges, and other government requirements.

While faster sales could free up money for new projects, an escalating tax could also deepen financial pressures and make developers and lenders more reluctant to proceed with future construction. The outcome would depend on whether the policy helps clear existing inventory without making new housing projects harder to finance and build.

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