Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on June 18, 2026, that federal funds would be used to purchase a glut of unsold Vancouver condos and convert them into government-operated rental housing, effectively preventing a segment of Canadian real estate from becoming more affordable.
At a press conference in Vancouver’s River District alongside B.C. Premier David Eby, Carney unveiled the Canada-British Columbia Partnership on Condo Conversion. The initiative aims to buy up to 2,200 vacant Metro Vancouver condos that are not selling at current prices and turn them into what the government calls “affordable homes.”
Government Intervention to Keep Prices High
The move marks yet another instance where a Canadian government has intervened to stop housing prices from falling. A press release dubbed the partnership “one of the fastest and most efficient ways to increase housing supply,” but Carney acknowledged that it would prevent developers from having to lower their sale prices in a sluggish market.
“With higher interest rates (and) weaker investment demand, developers are stuck,” Carney said. “They don’t want to sell at a loss, they can’t afford to hold those empty units indefinitely.”
No price tag was placed on the partnership, but with Vancouver’s benchmark condo price at about $700,000, the total cost could reach as high as $1.5 billion.
Criticism as a Developer Bailout
The announcement was immediately criticized as a bailout for condo developers. Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, told CBC that it was a “bailout” of “bad business decisions.”
Vancouver-based investment adviser Andrew Johns wrote in a social media post that Carney’s intervention prevented developers from either dropping prices or converting unsold units into rentals, both of which would have improved affordability. “And so what if they sell at a loss? That’s the game,” Johns wrote. “Why should Canadian taxpayers bail out homebuilders?”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre held his own Vancouver press conference two days later, advertising it under the title “Stop Liberal Housing Developer Bailouts.” He said, “Normally, the innovative financial tool to turn an overpriced empty condo into an affordable home is for the price to drop … so why not let that happen?”
Historical Precedent
This is not the first time such an intervention has occurred. Just last March, the Ontario government of Premier Doug Ford announced a nearly identical plan to buy 2,200 unsold vacant condos in the Toronto area for conversion into government-run rental units. The pattern suggests that whenever factors align to crash real estate prices and potentially bring ownership within reach of priced-out Canadians, either Ottawa or a provincial government steps in to stop it from happening.
