We Warned Them: Vancouver’s Towers Are Falling Silent

 We Warned Them: Vancouver’s Towers Are Falling Silent

We’ve been sounding the alarm for years — hand on heart, project by project, story by story — about the Vancouver housing market turning into a monument of greed and mismanagement. And now, the warning signs we chronicled are no longer just theory. They’re concrete.

A recent CTV report confirms what we’ve feared: thousands of condos sit empty, unfinished, or unbuilt. Developers, once eager to sell to investors and first-time buyers alike, are now pausing or canceling projects because the market has “absolutely died.” Banks won’t finance developments without guaranteed sales, buyers have disappeared, and high city fees and taxes make even launching new projects financially impossible.

The reality is grim. Half-finished towers may soon dot our skyline — symbols of ambition halted by economics and policy gaps. And while governments tout more “housing starts,” the people who need homes most remain sidelined. The structures rising above our streets are not the answer to affordability; they’re monuments to a system that prioritizes profit over people.

This is exactly what our series warned: building condos alone doesn’t solve a housing crisis. When development is treated as a commodity rather than a social necessity, the result is wasted resources, stalled projects, and dreams deferred for thousands of residents.

It’s time to face the truth: unless fees, taxes, and policies are reexamined and real affordability prioritized, Vancouver’s skyline will continue to grow — but its housing crisis will remain unbuilt.