BC election starts October 19 – will it change real estate policy?
With the BC election just a week away, here’s a look at the BC Conservative Party’s real estate policy, which is narrowly ahead of the BC NDP in recent polls.
- Streamlining building permits and approvals: The Conservatives promise to expedite rezoning and development permits within six months and building permits within three months. If municipalities fail to meet the deadlines, the province will issue permits directly.
- Working with local governments: The Conservatives plan to work with city halls to ensure that these approval deadlines are met.
- Proactive land use zoning: We will introduce “proactive land use zoning” to increase urban density so that residents know about future development in advance.
- Homeowner tax protection: The Conservatives will work with BC Assessment to ensure that this proactive land use zoning does not increase the tax burden on homeowners.
- Rental Housing Tax Incentives: The Conservatives will promote long-term rental development, including introducing a modernized version of the Multi-Unit Residential Building (MURB) program.
- Contractor deregulation: We will eliminate unnecessary regulation by enacting a Presumption of Compliance law that will allow you to trust certified contractors to perform work that has been reviewed for compliance.
- Eliminate cost-increasing regulations: The Conservatives plan to eliminate Step Code policies and Net-Zero mandates, which they claim are responsible for increasing the cost of building middle-class homes by 30-40%.
*Step Code & Zet-Zero: All new buildings must achieve zero operational carbon emissions by 2030, and all new buildings must be net-zero energy ready by 2032.
- Municipal Act amendments: The Conservatives will amend the Municipal Act to eliminate city planners’ ability to block housing projects and will establish the BC Development Tribunal to protect private property rights.
- Audit BC Housing: We will conduct a thorough audit of BC Housing to ensure that funds are truly spent on low-income housing and not wasted on politically connected non-profits.
- Infrastructure investment: The Conservatives pledge to invest $1 billion annually in sewer and water upgrades in municipalities that allow small multi-family units on at least two-thirds of residential land.
- Renters and homeowners tax rebate: Starting in 2026, the Conservatives propose a tax rebate that would exempt the first $1,500 of rent or mortgage interest expenses per month from provincial income tax, and by 2029, they would increase the exemption to $3,000 per month. This would save renters and homeowners $1,600 to $1,700 per year.
- Transportation infrastructure improvements: The Conservatives have made transportation infrastructure a key pledge, including (1) expanding lanes on the Iron Walkers Bridge (Second Narrows) connecting the North Shore to Vancouver, (2) expanding the Patullo Bridge between Surrey and New Westminster to six lanes, (3) replacing the Massey Tunnel between Delta and Richmond, (4) expanding Highway 1 in Chilliwack to six lanes, and (5) expanding the Surrey SkyTrain line to the Newton area.
The BC Conservatives are making real estate an important part of their agenda in this election, promising to increase housing supply and stabilize the market through a number of policies. Specifically, they plan to spur home building by streamlining the building permit and development process, encourage rental housing development with tax incentives and deregulation, and reduce burdens through tax rebate programs for homeowners and renters. They will also work with municipalities to make development in their communities more seamless, and improve access to residential areas through increased transportation infrastructure.
These Conservative real estate policies are expected to have a positive impact on the housing market by increasing housing supply and curbing cost growth.