BC NDP leader David Eby says the party would add an escalating tax on developers’ unsold condos and increase the province’s speculation and vacancy tax rates.
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Just three days into the provincial election campaign, BC NDP leader David Eby announced housing-supply measures that would introduce a new “Unsold Condo Tax” and further increase British Columbia’s existing Speculation and Vacancy Tax (SVT). The proposal is aimed at encouraging developers to reduce asking prices and pushing owners of empty units toward longer-term rentals.
Under the plan described in the announcement, the new tax would apply to developers who leave newly completed strata market ownership condominium homes empty and unsold for more than one year. The tax would escalate over time, starting at two per cent and increasing by one percentage point for each additional year the unit remains without buyers.
Eby argued that the policy would prevent what he described as “sky-high prices” for renters and buyers while finished condos remain unoccupied waiting for prices to rise. The BC NDP said the approach could help bring as many as 5,000 newly built vacant condominiums into active use.
The party also linked its proposal to the scale of the unsold inventory. Citing a September 2026 report by Real Property Data, it said unsold condominiums total an estimated $4.45 billion in combined value. The announcement stated that more than 1,300 units were completed over two years ago, with some still unfinished or unsold since 2019.
Alongside the new unsold condo tax, Eby said the BC NDP would increase the SVT rate for domestic owners subject to the tax from one per cent to two per cent. He also proposed raising the SVT rate for foreign owners to five per cent.
The announcement described the higher foreign-owner rate as part of a broader shift beyond the changes previously announced in the 2026 provincial budget. The 2026 budget, according to the details provided, would raise the SVT for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners from three per cent to four per cent for the 2027 tax year.
Eby’s plan says any additional revenue generated by increasing vacancy taxes would be directed toward building affordable housing. He also argued the proposal responds to cost pressures, saying housing costs are influenced by international price dynamics and that trade-related increases are contributing to higher prices in British Columbia.
In making the case for the SVT increases and the new unsold condo measure, Eby claimed housing prices are falling faster in B.C. than elsewhere in Canada. He accused the Conservative Party of B.C. of opposing the NDP’s approach and suggested reversing the policies would drive rents higher.
The announcement did not include an implementation date for the proposed taxes. It also did not explain how the taxable value of unsold condominiums would be determined, and it did not outline potential exemptions or a maximum cap on the new condo tax rate.
The BC NDP’s new tax proposal contrasts with an earlier strategy Eby announced with Prime Minister Mark Carney in June 2026. That earlier condominium conversion partnership aimed to use government-backed financing to convert more than 2,200 vacant condos into affordable homes, including a rent-to-own component, and it faced criticism from the official opposition, media and the public over concerns it would effectively support developers and prop up prices.
Eby rejected that criticism at the time, saying the government purchase prices would be below construction costs and that developers would be expected to take losses. The latest election announcement, by contrast, shifts the emphasis away from financing purchases toward imposing a growing financial penalty intended to pressure sellers to lower prices.
The announcement also did not specify whether the June 2026 acquisition initiative would continue or how it would interact with the proposed tax regime. More broadly, it did not describe how the unsold condo tax might affect future housing supply.
The campaign announcement described a market context in which developers face existing challenges, including high unsold inventories, weak sales, high borrowing and construction costs, and costs tied to municipal taxes, development charges and other government requirements. It noted that results would depend on whether clearing existing inventory can happen without making new projects significantly harder to finance and build.
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