Of the 16,589 presale
units on the market in the
second quarter of 2025,
more than 61 percent
are in the "danger zone,"
where project presales
lag far behind 70 percent
targets, says Greiner.
STEFAN GREINER,
VICE-PRESIDENT,
ZONDA URBAN
"Contractors have
started to lay people
off in numbers we
haven't seen in a
decade. I think 2026
is going to be a year
where you'll see more
of that."
CHRIS GARDNER,
PRESIDENT,
INDEPENDENT
CONTRACTORS AND
BUSINESSES ASSOCIATION
Chris Gardner: Carlos Taylhardat BC B U S I N E SS OCTOB ER 2025 | 33
CRISIS MEASURES
The development industry has long argued
that enduring the numerous municipal fees,
red tape and micromanagement by local
planners is unsustainable. When projects
were still profitable, it was a nuisance. Now,
it's a crisis.
"This is just years of bad policy and fees
layered on," says Matthew McClenaghan,
president of Edgar Development. "There's
one development we're looking to build—
townhouses—and it's $60,000 per door to
pay for infrastructure."
Forcing the costs of water, sewer and
road infrastructure onto new housing
construc tion is unsustainable, say
developers, when the math to buy or rent a
unit already doesn't work.
Amid an unprecedented housing
crisis in the province, developers are call-
ing on the BC NDP government to help
municipalities fund infrastructure.
The province is grandfathering Metro
Vancouver residential projects that started
before March 2024 under lower rates of
development cost charges, backstopped by
$250 million in federal cash. The hope is to
salvage projects stuck midstream.
The government also doubled timelines
for developers to pay development and
amenity cost charges, to save interest. And
it has cut the cost of electrical connections
from BC Hydro.
"We're trying to meet industry where it's
at now, where the market is at now," says
Ravi Kahlon, who was housing minister at
the time of this interview but has since been
shuffled to the jobs and economic growth
ministry. "We're trying to find innovative
solutions."
The province does not intend to scrap
its speculation tax, short-term rental
restrictions, anti-flipping tax or foreign-buy-
ers' tax, says Kahlon. Developers say all of
those are making it harder to attract capital.
Conservative housing critic Linda Hepner
says the government should repeal energy
step code changes, which add huge new
costs for buildings to achieve net zero emis-
sions by 2030 and be carbon neutral by
2032. Ottawa should also repeal the for-
eign-buyers ban on residential real estate,
