Approved before Eby, unsold because of Eby

The condos Eby is taking credit for were approved before his policies existed, and they remain unsold because his government has crushed demand

Goodman Report

At the October 14 leaders’ debate, NDP leader David Eby repeated his well-worn claim that his government’s policies created the supply now pushing down rents and piling up unsold condos.

Inconveniently for Eby, the data show that not one of these completed and unsold condo units can be traced to his policy changes.

For a self-described “housing nerd,” this should have been easy to check before he presented it as fact. The approval documents are public, and the timelines are quick to assemble. Either Eby hasn’t looked at the data or he doesn’t care. A politician who deserves voters’ trust wouldn’t keep taking credit for results his policies didn’t create.

The facts: 91% of Metro Vancouver’s 4,400 completed and unsold condo units were already approved and pre-selling before Eby’s rule changes took effect. The remaining 9% of unsold inventory sits in eight projects that launched presales after the policies took effect – but every one of them had applied for approvals before the provincial changes came into force, some as far back as 2016. The condos Eby now holds up as his achievement had nothing to do with his actions.

And his answer to the glut of supply he claims to have created is yet another tax, one that raises the cost of delivering homes in the future and works against the very goal he says he is pursuing.

Since succeeding the late John Horgan, David Eby has systematically dismantled what was once a thriving economy. On his watch, budget deficits have soared, provincial debt has doubled and credit rating agencies have downgraded the province eight times. Only two other provinces have been downgraded at all during this period, and each only once.

The housing policies Eby wants voters to believe are driving down rents and condo prices have been overshadowed by the damage he has done to the province’s economy. B.C.’s population shrank in 2025, and not only because Ottawa cut immigration: a province that once drew migrants from across the country has seen a record number of residents leave for other provinces in search of work and opportunity. Investment has dried up, new home starts have fallen sharply and job losses are mounting.

If Eby wants credit for falling rents and a glut of unsold condos, he can have it – but not for supply he did nothing to create. Rents and prices are falling because demand is weak, and demand is weak because families are stretched, jobs are less secure and investors are looking elsewhere. That is his true record, not an achievement to boast about.