BCBusiness

Matthew McClenaghan: Jeff Vinnick O N T H E E D G E O F D I S A S T E R 34 | BC B U S I N E SS OCTOB ER 2025 TRIAGE MEASURES At Anthem Properties, founder and CEO Eric Carlson says he's pivoting some of his firm's 853 employees from residential high- rises to other work in land development, warehousing, shopping centres and income properties, as well as shifting homebuilding away from the Vancouver area to cities like Calgary, where costs are lower and where Anthem sold a record number of homes last year. Carlson says Anthem will carry underperforming residential projects a little longer if it means retaining talent for the long haul. "People aren't commodities," he says. "To grow a good sales manager takes 10 years. And so for the sake of one slow year, or even 18 months of slowness, I'm not going to give that person up. It's a bad deal." The industry has justifiable complaints about the government's incoherent housing policies, Carlson adds. "Public policy has been a nightmare for years and it's played a role in where we are at." The consequence of today's high-rise condo slowdown will be felt in a few years. "There is going to be an aspect of supply that is going to dry up over the next two years plus," says Zayadi at Rennie group. "We will start to see it evaporate in 2027. As we move through it there's going to be no new homes being built and delivered." and B.C. should waive the property transfer tax on all new home developments for at least two years, says Hepner. B.C. could also consider measures adopted in other regions. In Australia, the government created a revolving $1-billion fund to act as guarantor for up to 50 percent of presales on housing projects. Developers have to start building within six months, and the government can buy any unsold units at a discounted rate for social housing. B.C. isn't interested in those kinds of measures. But Premier David Eby has said he's willing to explore an investor model for purpose-built rental units, letting people buy in to finance the project for a return, without the hassle of being the landlord. Public money for presales is a contentious idea that not all developers support, because real estate develop- ment is too risky for taxpayer funds. They suggest the focus should be on reducing government-imposed costs. But it could also involve an attitude shift, to treat real estate like a wanted part of the provincial economy—like Ontario's auto sector, where the province and federal governments pro- vided upward of $13 billion for bailouts when the industry was in economic turmoil. "There's a number of industries that get a heck of a lot of government support," says Zayadi. "Look at the film industry for example, the amount of tax credits, government support and other things they get when, honestly, the industry is quite successful on its own. Whereas we are the exact opposite. We get punished." "This is just years of bad policy and fees layered on. There's one development we're looking to build—townhouses—and it's $60,000 per door to pay for infrastructure." MATTHEW McCLENAGHAN, PRESIDENT, EDGAR DEVELOPMENT "Public policy has been a nightmare for years and it's played a role in where we are at." ERIC CARLSON, FOUNDER AND CEO, ANTHEM PROPERTIES

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