05/09/2026
For years now, municipalities have treated new housing construction like a slush fund for infrastructure development. But now it's starting to change.ā£
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On its face, it makes sense: pipes, utilities, roads, parks, amenitiesāall the stuff surrounding the construction of new real estate needs to be funded. Why not from developers themselves?ā£
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In the era of reliable price appreciation and robust demand, it worked. The cost of infrastructure could be tacked onto the price of a new home and buyers happily paid it.ā£
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But things eventually changeāprices tumbled, demand faltered, and pencils sharpened.ā£
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Eventually developers started saying: "This just doesn't financially work anymore." And now we're finally seeing some pushback.ā£
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In a pretty significant shift, Metro Vancouver rolled back some development cost charge increases after projects started stalling and housing starts slowed.ā£
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Whether people realize it or not, every extra cost added onto development eventually shows up in the price of a home. ā£
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Not all fees are unreasonable. After all, infrastructure has to be paid for somehow.ā£
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But, at least for now, it seems like City Halls are starting to realize there's a limit to how much cost you can pile onto new housing before projects no longer make sense.ā£
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And when projects can't get off the ground, affordability tends to get worse, not better.
