Carney says B.C. condo buyout proposal is about affordability, not bailouts

Converting British Columbia’s glut of unsold condos into affordable housing is about supporting Canadians, not distressed developers, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday as he defended his government’s proposal.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Ottawa, Carney said the Liberal government had done a poor job of explaining the program laid out in Vancouver a week earlier.

A press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on June 18 said Ottawa and the B.C. government plan to “leverage innovative financing tools to convert more than 2,200 vacant condo units in priority growth areas into affordable homes.”

Carney said Thursday the federal government would put up 10 per cent of roughly $1.45 billion in total potential spending to convert the units, with the B.C. government footing the rest of the bill.

These vacant units would be offered to Canadians under a rent-to-own framework.

Carney used the word “potentially” multiple times Thursday to describe the proposal and stressed that no specific transaction is on the table yet.

Critics, including Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, have accused the Liberal government of offering a bailout to developers who built too many condos and are now facing the prospect of steep losses if they’re forced to sell in a slow market.

Poilievre said at a separate news conference on Thursday that those developers ought to be the ones to swallow the loss — not taxpayers.

Carney said no developer asked him for the proposal, which he said was “initiated” by the B.C. government.

He said the idea is meant to support aspiring homebuyers who struggle to save for a down payment in one of Canada’s most expensive housing markets.

“We don’t care about the developer. We care about the person, the family that can potentially move into the home,” Carney said.

Figures from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation show 5,849 unabsorbed apartments across B.C. in May 2026, with 4,376 unabsorbed apartments in Metro Vancouver, accounting for 75 per cent of all unsold units.

Carney said at last week’s news conference that with higher interest rates and weaker demand, developers “are stuck” and don’t want to sell at a loss.

That could create an opportunity for the federal government to buy “distressed condos” at a reduced price, Carney argued Thursday.

“Buying them at a discount at the right time, financing, terming that out, setting up a rent-to-own structure for truly affordable housing — that’s an opportunity. We will look at any opportunity across the country that gets more affordable housing to Canadians,” he said.

Mike Moffatt, founding director of the Missing Middle Institute, said it’s possible the government can negotiate itself a sizable discount on current market prices by buying up units in bulk.

While he said there are still no details available on any proposed transactions, the program could help improve affordability in B.C., depending on the scale of the discount and the types of units being bought.

Poilievre said Thursday bidding against homebuyers for existing housing stock will only drive prices higher.

“Mr. Carney says he wants an innovative financial solution to make expensive, empty condos into affordable, occupied ones. I have that innovative solution — let the prices drop,” he said.

B.C. Premier David Eby told a press conference in Vancouver on Thursday that his government sees the plan as a chance to purchase units below the cost of new builds and make them available to British Columbians who otherwise couldn’t afford to break into the housing market.

Eby pushed back on the claim that this amounts to a bailout for condo developers.

“It will not assist developers who have made a bad bet and (the program) will assist a number of families in the province that are looking to get into housing,” he said.

Moffatt said if developers end up getting close to the price they wanted three years ago for the units, that would amount to a bailout — but if the governments are able to secure the units for 40 cents to the dollar against current list prices, that’s a bargain for taxpayers.

Moffatt compared the proposal to asking whether the Calgary Flames should trade for star Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews. Until you know what the team is giving up, he said, it’s impossible to say who’s getting the better deal.

Whether the government intervenes or not, Moffatt said, B.C. condo values should be allowed to drop.

“I think we absolutely should let the market adjust,” he said. “And as part of that adjustment, if the government wants to come in and thinks it can get a really good deal on some distressed condos, it should do it.”

B.C. Conservative housing critic Linda Hepner said earlier this week that the housing crisis won’t be solved by “wasting taxpayer dollars on artificially propping up developers.”

“If prices are set too high for condo units to be sold, market forces will cause the prices to lower until people can afford them,” she said in a statement. “But if developers know that the government will simply bail them out if the condos sit vacant long enough, they will never drop their prices, making the housing crisis even worse.”

Ontario announced a similar plan in March to spend $300 million to convert 2,200 unsold condo units in the Greater Toronto Area into long-term rental housing, with a quarter of those homes to be offered at below-market rents.

The B.C. condo conversion proposal was announced alongside a plan for the federal government to invest more than $5 billion in provincial infrastructure over the next 10 years. A portion of that funding is contingent on municipalities slashing development charges.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.

— with files from Wolfgang Depner in B.C.