FIRST READING: Canada intervenes (again) to stop housing prices going down

Premier David Eby (the tall one) and Prime Minister Mark Carney make an announcement about housing on June 18, 2026 in the River District of south Vancouver. Photo by Government of B.C.

Article content

First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here.

Article content

TOP STORY

Article content

Article content

At the precise moment that a segment of Canadian real estate was poised to become more affordable, a Canadian government has once again intervened on the side of keeping prices high.

Article content

On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that federal monies would be used to buy up a glut of unsold Vancouver condos into order to convert them into government operated rental housing.

Article content

Article content

At a Vancouver press conference held alongside B.C. Premier David Eby, Carney announced the launch of the Canada-British Columbia Partnership on Condo Conversion.

Article content

Article content

The mission of the partnership is simple: Buy up to 2,200 vacant Metro Vancouver condos that are not selling at current prices, and convert them into “affordable homes.”

Article content

A press release dubbed the partnership “one of the fastest and most efficient ways to increase housing supply.” But on Friday, Carney confirmed that it would have the effect of preventing developers from having to lower their sale prices in the face of a sluggish market.

Article content

“With higher interest rates (and) weaker investment demand, developers are stuck,” he said. “They don’t want to sell at a loss, they can’t afford to hold those empty units indefinitely.”

Article content

A price tag was not placed on the “partnership,” but with Vancouver’s benchmark condo price currently standing at about $700,000, it could work out to as much as $1.5 billion.

Article content

Almost immediately, the move was criticized as a “bailout” of Vancouver condo developers.

Article content

Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, told CBC that it was a “bailout” of “bad business decisions.”

Article content

Article content

In a widely circulated social media post, Vancouver-based investment adviser Andrew Johns noted that Carney’s intervention prevented condo developers from either dropping their prices or converting the unsold units into rentals — both of which would have had a beneficial impact on real estate affordability.

Article content

Article content

“And so what if they sell at a loss? That’s the game,” wrote Johns. “Why should Canadian taxpayers bail out homebuilders?”

Article content

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre hosted his own Vancouver press conference just two days later, advertising it under the title “Stop Liberal Housing Developer Bailouts.”

Article content

“Normally, the innovative financial tool to turn an overpriced empty condo into an affordable home is for the price to drop … so why not let that happen?” he said.

Article content

The phenomenon has happened before.

Article content

Just as a series of factors aligned to crash real estate prices and potentially bring ownership within reach of priced-out Canadians, either Ottawa or a provincial government swoops in to stop it from happening.

Article content

Just last March, the Ontario government of Premier Doug Ford announced a near-identical plan to buy 2,200 unsold vacant condos in the Toronto area, also for the purpose of converting them into government-run rental units.