{"id":35581,"date":"2026-05-07T12:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/35581\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T12:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:42:07","slug":"builders-welcome-rollback-of-metro-vancouvers-development-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/35581\/","title":{"rendered":"Builders welcome rollback of Metro Vancouver\u2019s development charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Condo and office towers and B.C. Place stadium in downtown Vancouver, in October, 2025.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

On April 15, developers in British Columbia scored a big win when the Metro Vancouver Regional District agreed to roll back and reduce its development fees, something the industry has asked the regional government to do for several years.<\/p>\n

Metro Vancouver collects these fees \u2013 known as development cost charges (DCC) in B.C., and development charges in Ontario \u2013 to pay for new infrastructure. DCC rates saw substantial increases in 2025 and 2026, with another that was set for 2027.<\/p>\n

Since those increases, however, the market has taken a downturn, and few developers have been able to move forward with new projects. Development charges are typically payable upon issuance of the building permit, right before construction begins, so projects not reaching that stage mean governments can\u2019t collect fees.<\/p>\n

After last month\u2019s special meeting, Metro Vancouver agreed to roll back 2026 DCC rates to 2025 rates and to reduce 2027 rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a meaningful step,\u201d said Brad Jones, chief development officer at Wesgroup Properties, which has been the most vocal advocate for the DCC change. \u201cThere\u2019s a group of projects that were maybe on the cusp of going \u2013 in this market, they\u2019re likely rental projects \u2013 and they can take advantage of this two-year window and move, but I think it\u2019s going to be limited how many projects can react and respond with how subdued the presale market is and rents declining steadily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corporate ownership of residential real estate expected to grow in B.C.<\/a><\/p>\n

Rob Blackwell, executive vice-president of development at Anthem Properties, agrees that it\u2019s not gonna have an industry-wide impact, but will move the needle for some projects. Using the example of a 30-storey high-rise project, Mr. Blackwell says the savings could be between $2-million to $2.5-million, which is an amount that can change margins and make a project financeable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the bigger thing is that Metro Vancouver is understanding what we\u2019ve been saying for two and a half years \u2013 that there\u2019s structural issues in the market and you can\u2019t keep increasing the fees, because it\u2019s going to stop projects,\u201d he added. \u201cI believe that when we first spoke to them, there may have been some who agreed with that, but the majority didn\u2019t. As we went through time and what happened happened, there\u2019s more proof in the market. But we saw this coming three years ago. We just couldn\u2019t get anyone to believe us, and I think the indication now is that people believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Mr. Jones and Mr. Blackwell also agree that the core problem is being pushed down the road, because the other part of Metro Vancouver\u2019s change is to reduce the so-called \u201cassist factor\u201d of DCCs to 1 per cent beginning in 2029. The assist factor is the percentage of growth-related infrastructure costs that are funded by the existing tax base, as opposed to DCCs. Thus, a 1 per cent assist factor means 99 per cent of growth-related infrastructure costs will be funded by DCCs, and the rates will go up accordingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings in the market would have to change significantly for that to be viable in 2029, otherwise we\u2019re just pushing that problem down the road,\u201d said Mr. Blackwell. \u201cMoving to the 1 per cent assist factor under the \u2018growth pays for growth\u2019 mantra is not gonna work. The cost burden going into new housing is too high. DCCs are important, we all need the infrastructure, but if the price for them is too high, we end up taxing homes out of reach. That\u2019s the problem. Every dollar of a DCC shows up in the price of a home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt now a developer of missing middle housing<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Jones similarly described the 2029 problem as \u201cof fairly high concern\u201d and says the ongoing discussion across the country about how infrastructure is funded needs to continue instead of just hoping for the market to recover. Blackwell says governments need to be more creative with financial engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t we go back to P3 [public-private partnerships] structures that we used to do in the province? Why can\u2019t they amortize projects for a longer time? Why do they have to be paid back in 15 years? Why can\u2019t municipalities issue bonds to pay for infrastructure? They have to look at big changes. I think the whole thing needs an overhaul. The tools are out there. It\u2019s just that policies don\u2019t allow it, or the creative thinking is not there. We gotta get there, otherwise this problem is just being pushed down the road, and we\u2019re gonna face it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Development charges were at the top of the list of things developers have wanted to see changed. Asked what the next biggest things are, both Mr. Jones and Mr. Blackwell pointed to building codes, which regulate construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost escalation that has resulted from continual changes to the building code \u2013 these non-life-safety changes, socially driven changes \u2013 are making construction in this market incredibly difficult and incredibly expensive,\u201d said Mr. Jones. \u201cI think we need to pause and look at the priorities. No one is suggesting undoing safety elements. It\u2019s all the extra stuff. That\u2019s something that\u2019s kind of gone unchecked over the last decade or so. We\u2019ve done some work on this and think there\u2019s been an excess of 2,000 individual changes to building codes over 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vancouver\u2019s tony neighbourhoods get a reality check<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Blackwell says building codes impact construction costs in two significant ways. The first is that they change the physical size of buildings. Code changes on insulation, for example, can increase the sizes of walls, thus increasing the size of the building, while reducing the amount of usable space. The second way is that they affect project timelines, as all the layers of regulations \u2013 sustainability, accessibility, seismic \u2013 can extend a construction schedule from 24 months to 32 months, which in turn means more interest needs to be paid.<\/p>\n

Referring to all the various policies, Mr. Jones said: \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a sad game of whack-a-mole,\u201d while Mr. Blackwell said that developers can absorb a certain amount of costs, but, \u201cThey just need to be proportionate to what everyone\u2019s trying to accomplish at the end of the day, which is to have housing units that are reasonably attainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Jones also points to the wider impact of new construction not being able to move forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw Coast Appliance\u2019s financial troubles<\/a> and I understand there\u2019s one or two appliance distributors on [Vancouver] Island that are in similar situations, so we\u2019re seeing the overall industry impact that results from a lack of housing starts. I think that will slowly become the story of the year \u2013 the economic impacts and job losses that are related to this sector.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Condo and office towers and B.C. Place stadium in downtown Vancouver, in October,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,95,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-35581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-travel","51":"tag-trudeau","52":"tag-us-news","53":"tag-vancouver","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}