Developers Paint Bleak Picture of Vancouver's Future Under Status Quo

[misher]

“Developers are cautious before they initiate new units.”

But Casey Edge said there’s more to a drop in starts than a lack of capacity to take on new jobs.

The executive director of the Victoria Residential Builders’ Association said the province and municipal governments have to shoulder some of the blame.

“We are seeing a decline in housing starts despite the fact we have very strong population growth,” he said. “We need to accommodate this with new housing not less housing.”

Edge said the province promised in 2017 it would improve the supply of housing and work on streamlining the approval processes at the municipal level.

“That hasn’t been done,” he said. “[The budget] predicts a 24 per cent decline in housing starts over two years, yet they are also predicting population growth. The demand for market housing is there, but they appear to be doing nothing about improving supply for that growing market demand.”

B.C.’s population is expected to grow by between 57,000 and 60,000 people each of the next four years, while Victoria’s population grows by about 5,000 people per year.

https://biv.com/article/2020/02/housing-start-drop-not-due-demand-cmhc