VREP #516 | Inside BC's Slow-Motion Economic Crisis with David Williams

Most of the market is sitting on its hands, but Townline President Daryl Simpson says that developers paying attention are getting ready to build. Daryl sits down with Adam & Matt this week to explain a paradox: how the slowest condo market of his three decade career, the first real drop in rents this city has ever seen, and 20,000 rental units still under construction actually set up a genuine supply squeeze in the early 2030s - one builders should be preparing for now. He is candid about why today's construction savings will not last, what developers got wrong during boom times, and why the condo bailout nobody asked for is doing more harm than good. So when does this market actually turn? What happens to rents once the cranes come down? And what will it take for buyers to believe in this market again? Don't miss this one!

Selling in Vancouver this fall will not be easy & the questions homeowners are asking right now reflect that reality. Fresh off a stronger June but softer July, Adam & Matt sit down to discuss listing your property in the fall of 2026, answering the questions they hear most from sellers. They move through each stage of a sale: before you list, when you set your price, and once an offer comes in, tackling everything from reading a market that keeps humbling the experts to the subject-removal shakedown now showing up on nearly every deal. Is now the time to list or a moment to wait? Should you buy first or sell first? And is the first offer really the best offer? Don't miss this practical guide to selling in today's market.

The debate over Vancouver's Villages Plan has become something bigger than a simple zoning discussion. It has become a charged battle over the future of our city. As the city holds public consultation on the plan to upzone 17 neighbourhoods across Vancouver, housing advocate Phil Webb sits down with Adam & Matt to report from these contentious meetings at City Hall. They unpack the fears of the opposition, assess the plan on its merits, and dig into Phil's warning that protecting the status quo only shuts younger Vancouverites out of the market for good. Is the plan smart policy or just more condos that no one asked for? Whose voices are actually being heard here, and who is really footing the bill? And are the battle lines over the city's future actually in fact drawn by generation and wealth? The future of the city is being shaped today & the conversation starts here.  

The same strange market split is playing out in Toronto and Vancouver & which side you're on depends entirely on what you own. Tom Storey, leader of Toronto's Storey Team and host of the Tom Storey Show, sits down with Adam & Matt this week to compare Canada's largest cities point for point. The conversation runs from Leslieville versus Kitsilano, to a five-point test that decides whether a condo sells today, to a new framework that flips how buyers should think about real estate as a long term investment. Why do a handful of neighbourhoods still feel like 2021? What hard-won lessons from this downturn could save you thousands? And is now the best window to trade up before prices move again? A must listen before you make your next move! 

The numbers say the market is merely slow. Everyone living in it says something worse. BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson sits down this week with Adam & Matt to break down a first half that somehow undercut an already historic low. From the string of supply shocks driving rates up, to move up buyers single-handedly propping up the market, to the province's $1.5 billion bid to scoop up thousands of unsold condos, this wide-ranging conversation gets to the heart of why the gloom won't lift & what finally turns it around. So what word does a chief economist reach for? Why are first time buyers disappearing just as affordability improves? And when does the malaise finally lift?

2021 prices are gone and sellers are finally coming to terms with reality. But what's next? Cory Wright, owner and managing broker at William Wright Commercial, sits down with Adam & Matt for an unvarnished health check across every asset class in the world of commercial real estate. They dig into why office is drawing serious buyers, how some industrial now sells for less than it costs to build, and the case for the buildings nobody wants. He also unpacks the development logjam choking new supply and the overlooked secondary regions where savvy money is heading. Have we hit the floor? What is everyone sleeping on? And is the worst over? Don't miss this one!

Your home may be your biggest investment, but is it also your biggest risk? This week, James Milne and Brent Anderson, Business Development Directors at FirstService Residential, sit down with Adam & Matt to pull back the curtain on strata life in BC. From dysfunctional councils and deferred maintenance to the document red flags most buyers walk right past, this conversation is essential listening for anyone who owns or is shopping in the Lower Mainland. Why does Vancouver pay some of the lowest maintenance fees in North America, and is that actually bad news? What free online search should you run before lifting subjects? And what does a well run building look like from the inside? Don't miss this one!

What if the very thing that makes your home a winning investment is also the thing that puts our city beyond reach for the people who live & work here? Chuck Marohn, the Strong Towns founder and co-author of Escaping the Housing Trap, sits down with Adam & Matt this week to explain where we have gone wrong in North American housing: how shelter has become a financial asset, why prices are never allowed to fall, and why this approach can't deliver truly healthy, thriving cities. Do the ways we finance new construction fundamentally have to shift? Are Vancouver's tower-and-podium projects and master-planned communities deepening the problem they were meant to solve? And is the way forward smaller, slower, and built block by block? An outsider's take on Vancouver!

Forget 2008. Real estate research analyst Wendy Waters sits down with Adam & Matt to argue that today's Vancouver real estate market has far more in common with the late 1990s, a long, quiet stretch where prices barely moved, governments rebalanced their books, and global uncertainty hung over every decision. From flight-to-quality buyers to the wave of young Canadians still living at home, the conversation reframes what listeners should actually expect from the next several years. Is the era of housing as a wealth generator finally winding down? Why does this downturn refuse to follow the usual cycle playbook? And could this slump actually be setting up something healthier on the other side? Don't miss this one.

After five straight credit downgrades and a record deficit, BC is at a turning point. David Williams, VP of Policy at the Business Council of British Columbia, sits down with Adam & Matt to unpack how the province went from fiscal powerhouse to cautionary tale in just half a decade. From the end of four mega projects to a ballooning public sector and outmigration not seen since the 1990s, the conversation cuts to the heart of what's really happening behind the numbers. Are tax hikes and public sector layoffs now inevitable? Why is Canada projected to be the slowest growing economy in the OECD for a generation? And what does the mortgage squeeze mean for Vancouver real estate? Don't miss this one!