A week after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a joint government program proposal to buy new unsold condos in B.C., more details have emerged, including the fact the “rent-to-own” concept came from the provincial government.

Carney told media Thursday morning in Ottawa that the program was “initiated” by the provincial government and the cost to purchase 2,200 new unsold condos in B.C. will be about $1.5 billion with the federal government contributing 10 per cent.

Hours later, B.C. Premier David Eby confirmed to Business in Vancouver at a news conference in Vancouver that his government conceived the plan.

Eby said Carney made $300 million of new money “available” for housing programs in the province “and the proposal on the table was what they had done with Ontario, which is to eliminate the GST on new homes.”

Eby said that proposal was “the preferred solution of the development industry” and would only assist people who were already in the housing market, since a GST exemption on new homes already exists for first-time homebuyers.

Instead, Eby said his government proposed a plan to use half of the federal funds to buy the new unsold condos for the cohort of British Columbians who can’t afford down payments yet and still pay high or substantial rents.

“What we see as an opportunity right now is the chance to buy products below the cost of construction, below the cost of what government can build before, and make them available through a rent-to-own program,” said Eby, noting purchases will not be made in Vancouver, because “the numbers don’t work.”

Eby said his government will be targeting distressed condo assets, such as projects that are in foreclosure, hence developers will not profit from the purchases.

Eby said both the federal government and provincial government will both contribute $150 million, so the program has $300 million as a deposit for financing and upfront costs.

“This comes at no ultimate cost to taxpayers because the mortgage is an asset for taxpayers,” noted Eby.

Eby and Carney both said the initial announcement was not well communicated. Compounding problems was how several news outlets erroneously reported the proposal to cost $3.2 billion when that is the dollar amount earmarked for developer subsidies of development cost charges (a transfer of municipal infrastructure fees normally passed from developers to new home buyers over to taxpayers).

The premier fielded questions from media that raised concerns from critics that the program was a bailout for the development industry and the purchases will impede market prices reaching their floor.

“If people hate it, that’s OK, we don’t have to do it. But I actually think that ultimately, we’ll be buying below the cost of construction, no developers will be profiting from us and it’ll give people an opportunity to buy a home that would otherwise not have it,” said Eby.

When asked where the concept came from within the government, Eby did not specify; Carney said he was not approached by any developer about such a concept.

It remains unclear where the new unsold condos will be purchased although Eby said target regions include the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan.

Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, told BIV many details such as purchase location remain to be seen despite these further details.

Noting data from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Yan said there were 5,849 new unsold condos in the province in May 2026 and 4,376 were located in Metro Vancouver, including 457 in Vancouver.

Eby mentioned multiple times the targets would be families, but what is not yet clear is the type of units—such as the number of bedrooms—the program will target.

“I can’t imagine many three-bedroom units under $1 million,” said Yan.

Furthermore, when crunching the numbers broadly, Yan wonders if affordability can truly be achieved.

“Even with market rents you still have a gap between the mortgage payments and rents,” with newer condo completions, said Yan, who echoes critics concerned about such an intervention impeding free market price discovery.

“Is this a solution in search of a problem?” asked Yan.

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