BC Flipped. Conservatives Win Majority. Eby Resigns.
BoC Hiked to 2.50 Percent. First Rate Increase Since 2023.
The Unsold Condo Tax Just Died.
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Hot Foreclosure
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BC Flipped. Conservatives Win Majority. Eby Resigns.
Saturday Oct 24. CTV projected a Conservative majority by 9pm. Interim leader Lorne Doerkson claimed victory with his party leading or winning 62 of 93 ridings. John Rustad did not run. David Eby conceded, held his own Vancouver-Point Grey seat by a narrow margin, and announced his resignation as NDP leader in his concession speech: "I accept full responsibility for that outcome."Nine years of NDP governance in BC just ended. Housing dropped from the number one voter concern to number two, behind the economy. Prime Minister Mark Carney already congratulated Doerkson and said he looks forward to working together to "get more homes built."Market impact. Every housing policy on the books is now under review. The speculation and vacancy tax, the empty homes tax, the property transfer tax, the foreign buyer rules. Conservatives campaigned on no new taxes and cutting red tape. The question is not whether policy direction changes, it's how fast.
BoC Hiked to 2.50 Percent. First Rate Increase Since 2023.
Today. The Bank of Canada raised the overnight rate 25bps from 2.25 to 2.50 percent. First hike since July 2023. The hold streak ended at seven straight decisions. Prime goes up tomorrow.The reasoning: Q2 GDP ran 3.3 percent annualized. CPI has been stuck around 3 percent since April and is projected to hit 3.5 by year end. The MPR forecasts housing activity to stay "relatively weak." The Governor said further tightening remains on the table. Next decision December 9.Market impact. Variable rate holders see payments reset within days. HELOC balances get more expensive. Fixed rates, already elevated at 4.34 percent per Issue 27, do not necessarily move one for one with the policy rate, but the bond market reaction will set the tone. Qualification math just got tighter for every buyer who was pre approved under 2.25 prime.
The Unsold Condo Tax Just Died.
Eby's 2 percent tax on completed unsold condo inventory, the policy that lit the campaign on fire (Issue 26 Story 1) and that 30 percent of voters backed in last week's Angus Reid poll (Issue 29 Story 3), dies with the NDP government. Doerkson's Conservatives explicitly pledged no new taxes. The speculation and vacancy tax expansion is dead too. The empty homes framework in Metro gets a review.Market impact. Developers sitting on completed but unsold towers (the segment Issue 27 identified as collapsing 18.6 percent YoY) just got a stay of execution. The clock Eby was trying to put on them is gone. Expect the Metro apartment benchmark ($682,500 as of September) to stop falling as developers reset list prices with no tax pressure forcing a clearance. On the demand side, PTT exemptions and foreign buyer rules are the next policies up for review.
Investor's Scoreboard
#108 230 Mowat Street, New Westminster (Uptown NW, San Sebastian).$479,000. 2 bed, 1 bath, 860 sqft, 2026 renovation complete. Open house Sunday Nov 1. OfferValue® $524,000. Asking $45,000 under model.The Bank of Canada hiked today, 2.25 to 2.50 percent. Prime goes up tomorrow. The 20 percent down Metro trade just died.The math at 4.34 percent, 30 percent down, 25 year amortization: $143,700 down, $1,827 P and I, $586 strata, $194 tax. All in carry $2,607. OfferRent® $2,490. Cash flow minus $117 a month. Year one principal paydown $7,634. Net equity built $6,230. Cash on cash 4.3 percent, plus $45,000 under intrinsic from day one.When the first rate hike in three years takes 20 percent down off the Metro table, the trade is 30 percent down on a brand new renovation already priced below OfferValue®.
Hot Foreclosure of the Week5532 Westhaven Road, West Vancouver (Eagle Harbour) $2,565,000 · 5 bed, 4 bath, 4,930 sqft · Court ordered sale · Open house Sunday Nov 1A 4,930 sqft Eagle Harbour home with ocean on three sides of the peninsula. OfferRent® puts fair market rent at $8,450 a month. The property was never the problem. The price was.The owner bought it in February 2016 for $3,125,000. They have been trying to sell it ever since. Peak ask was $3,888,000 in May 2018. Over the next ten years, fourteen separate listings came and went across four brokerages. Every single one terminated or expired.Today, October 29, the seller cut the price twice in a single day. From $2,900,000 to $2,599,000 in the morning. From $2,599,000 to $2,565,000 in the afternoon. Then the court took over.$1,323,000 off the 2018 peak. 34 percent off the top. Ten years, fourteen listings, four brokerages, and the court before it sold.This is what West Van’s 2.3 years of supply above $4M (ZONED Issue 26) actually looks like on the ground.
Duplex vs Townhouse in BC: Ownership, Fees and Price Gap
A Metro Vancouver half duplex costs about $651,000 more than a townhouse. Here is what that buys, from ownership and strata fees to GST, warranty and the roof you split two ways.
Hamidreza Etebarian - October 28, 2026
A half duplex in Metro Vancouver lists at a median of $1,550,000 right now, and a townhouse lists at about $899,000. That $651,000 gap is the first number in any duplex vs townhouse decision in BC. The duplex usually buys you a bigger, newer home with one neighbour instead of a whole complex, but it also changes your fees, your insurance and who pays for the roof.
Spot Price Cuts and Property Types Right on the Map
Open the Options panel on the map and scroll down. Two new toggles sit at the bottom. Show Price Cut paints every active listing that has had a price reduction with a visual tag directly on its pin, so the map turns into a heat map of sellers who have already given up on their original ask. Property Type Icon replaces the generic pin with the shape of what’s actually on that lot, house, townhouse, apartment, duplex, so you can scan a neighbourhood at a glance and see whether you’re looking at single family turnover or condo collapse without clicking into a single listing. Both live in the same panel as Schools, ALR, and Property Boundary Grid. Open the map, hit Options, scroll to the bottom.
The $5.28M UBC Sub-Penthouse Where You Own Half the Floor• A sub-penthouse at Corus at UBC. You own half the entire floor, 2,858 sqft of it, with living space that wraps 270 degrees around the top of Point Grey.• The view wraps with the floor plan. Pacific Ocean to the west, the North Shore mountains to the north, downtown Vancouver to the east. On a clear day you can see Vancouver Island on one side and Mount Baker on the other without turning your head twice.• Three covered balconies. Floor to ceiling glass on every wall. Miele and Sub-Zero in the kitchen. Miele laundry. Kohler fixtures in the bathrooms. Lutron motorized blackout shades and silk curtains. Limestone and hardwood floors. Two fireplaces. Dual zone air conditioning. Two gated parking stalls.• Three bedrooms, four bathrooms, 2,858 sqft. Corus, University VW.• The real pitch is who buys it. UBC faculty, visiting researchers, physicians at UBC Hospital, and families whose kids are heading into the university. Walk to a 9am class or a 10am faculty meeting in under ten minutes. The Rose Garden, Nitobe, and the Museum of Anthropology are all on the same walk. Point Grey beaches sit at the bottom of the cliff.• $5,280,000 feels like a lot for a condo. For half a floor at UBC with a 270 degree view across the Georgia Strait, it’s a bargain nobody writes about because the people who buy it don’t need to tell anyone.
Hamidreza Etebarian leads the editorial process behind Zealty’s content. He works directly with the team to shape everything from market reports to general real estate guides into clear, reliable, and decision-focused pieces.
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