B.C. development association cancels awards, citing ‘worst housing market in decades’
UBC expert says it’s ‘almost impossible’ to make money today on land bought around 2021 and 2022
Arden McLeod · CBC News · Posted: Jun 19, 2026
Two years ago, in one of its busiest showings, nearly 600 industry leaders gathered at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver to celebrate the Urban Development Institute’s (UDI) 40th Awards of Excellence.
This year, the event has been cancelled.
“We’re in one of the worst housing markets in decades… There is little to celebrate when the conditions to build are this broken,” UDI CEO Michael Drummond wrote in a post on social media.
Tom Davidoff, director of the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) centre for urban economics and real estate, said that’s a fair characterization.
“This is an extraordinarily challenging time for the development industry. Times were great a few years ago,” Davidoff said.
When development was booming a few years ago, interest rates were low, population growth was high, and so was market interest, he said. Since then, interest rates have risen and population growth has slowed, which has caused prices to fall dramatically.
“It’s almost impossible to have bought land around 2021, 2022, and to have a project completed today without losing money.”
He said the combination of higher interest rates and lower population growth is a “double-whammy,” which means lower returns for investors and less incentive for developers to break ground.
Michael Geller operates a consultancy firm specializing in development, planning and real estate. He said this issue is even being felt by major developers.
“For a long time, condominiums were very successful in this city, but in the last three or four years, most condominium projects have not been able to proceed.”
Geller pointed to the recent court-ordered receivership of Westbank Corporation’s Joyce 2 rental tower, which removed the developer’s control over the project.
He said the federal and provincial governments were responding to the public by tightening immigration and policies around urban development — effects that are now being felt across the industry.
“At one point we had a significant immigration which was creating demand, and then all of a sudden the tap was turned off.”
There is plenty of construction demand across various sectors in B.C., according to the British Columbia Construction Association (BCCA), which represents thousands of companies in the province’s industrial, commercial, institutional, and residential construction sectors.
Chris Atchison, BCCA president, added that construction remains one of the province’s most active work sectors. He said members of the association are more worried about what’s to come in a few years.
“There’s less work coming. And that doesn’t mean that we’re not busy now. It means that we’re looking ahead three and four and five years, and there’s a little bit of trepidation and uncertainty about what we might be doing.”
He said BCCA members are citing inflationary pressures, financing costs, permitting delays and payment uncertainties as issues that “keep contractors up at night.”
Atchison explained that projects being delayed slows down the entire construction cycle — which can widen gaps between projects in workers’ schedules.
“There’s inherent risk and big dollars associated with these projects. But that doesn’t mean that that risk needs to go to those who can least afford it — those who are actually building the province.”
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-development-association-cancels-awards-citing-worst-housing-market-in-decades-9.7241275
