David Eby’s BC NDP promises tax on unsold condos and higher vacancy tax

Three days into the provincial election campaign, BC NDP leader David Eby has proposed a new tax on developers that leave newly completed, market-ownership strata condominiums vacant and unsold for more than one year. The proposed “Unsold Condo Tax” would begin at two per cent and rise by one percentage point for every additional year a unit remains unsold.

The party says the measure, together with a planned increase to British Columbia’s Speculation and Vacancy Tax (SVT), would encourage developers to lower asking prices and prompt owners of vacant properties to seek long-term tenants. The BC NDP estimates that up to 5,000 newly built vacant condominiums could be brought into active use. Citing a September 2026 Real Property Data report, the party says the unsold units have an estimated combined value of $4.45 billion; more than 1,300 were completed more than two years ago, with some finished as early as 2019.

Eby also promised to double the SVT rate for domestic owners subject to it, from one per cent to two per cent, and proposed a five per cent rate for foreign owners. That would exceed an increase announced in the 2026 provincial budget that 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 says additional revenue from the higher vacancy tax would go toward building affordable housing.

Eby said the proposed taxes are intended to lower housing costs as Trump’s trade war increases prices. He also claimed housing prices are falling faster in British Columbia than elsewhere in Canada, and accused the Conservative Party of B.C. of opposing the BC NDP approach, arguing that reversing its policies would increase rents.

The announcement did not set an implementation date, explain how unsold condos would be valued for tax purposes, or outline exemptions or a maximum rate for the new tax. It also did not clarify whether a June 2026 condominium conversion partnership announced by Eby and Prime Minister Mark Carney would continue. That plan called for government-backed financing to turn more than 2,200 vacant condominiums across the province into affordable homes, including a rent-to-own component.

The latest proposal shifts the focus from financing purchases of developers’ unsold condos to imposing an escalating financial penalty for leaving them vacant. While faster sales could free funds for new construction, the policy’s effect on future housing supply remains unclear, as developers already face unsold inventory, weak sales, high borrowing and construction costs, and municipal taxes, development charges and other government requirements.