Thousands of new condos are not being absorbed by the market, raising questions about supply-demand mismatch and income inequality.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), there were 4,376 completed and unabsorbed condo apartments in the Vancouver census metropolitan area (CMA) in May 2026, compared to 2,488 in May 2025—an increase of 76%.

CMHC economist Shiva Moshtari Doust said “absorbed” dwellings are those that are completed but unavailable for sale or lease. This includes units that are occupied, subject to a binding, non-conditional agreement, or withheld from the market by developers.

Under any other circumstances, the unit is considered “unabsorbed.” For example, a unit is unabsorbed if the unit is switched from sale to rental, or if a presale didn’t complete and the structure is finished.

“We’re looking at record-high numbers of unabsorbed units in the Vancouver CMA,” Moshtari Doust said.

The massive increase is corroborated by a separate data set from Rennie and data platform Zonda Home.

There were 2,179 completed and unsold homes at the end of 2024, 3,472 at the end of 2025 and 3,945 at the end of Q1 2026, according to Rennie’s estimates based on Zonda’s data.

The data analyzed by Rennie has some technical and geographical differences compared to the CMHC data.

Like CMHC’s approach, a unit is unabsorbed if a presale buyer fails to complete their purchase. Unlike CMHC, however, a unit is unabsorbed if it is held back by a developer waiting for better market conditions.

“That is a home that is not occupied that could in theory be occupied, even if it’s not available for purchase right now,” said Ryan Berlin, Rennie’s chief economist and vice-president of intelligence.

Moreover, Rennie doesn’t count a unit as unabsorbed when a developer switches it from sale to rental, though Berlin said he hasn’t seen this occur at scale yet in this market apart from some small instances.

Berlin’s data covers a slightly larger geography that includes Squamish, Abbotsford and Mission, where in total there are about 100 completed and unsold condos, he said.

CMHC’s Moshtari Doust said a few years ago, there was a surge of housing starts that are now completing. Meanwhile, there is slow population growth, low buyer confidence, lower rents siphoning would-be buyers, and higher interest rates making financing more expensive.

“Supply is high and demand is low,” she said.

Rennie’s Berlin said if recent trends continue, the number could grow to 5,000 by 2030.

“Some would look at that and say that’s a pessimistic scenario. It’s certainly not a doomsday scenario, but I think it does reflect the reality that we have thousands of unsold homes in buildings that are under construction and that will be delivered at some point in the next four years,” he said.

“How much of that sells between now and when these buildings complete?”

“Take-out buyers” are another variable, Berlin said. This is when a fund or developer purchases unsold inventory in bulk, pulls it off the market or puts it into rental.

“We’re starting to see a little bit of that in Toronto. If that happens here, because it hasn’t yet, then you could see these headline numbers change dramatically, and specifically reduce,” he said.

Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, said the housing market hasn’t seen unabsorbed numbers this high since the mid-1990s.

It’s geographically uneven, he said, with Burnaby and Richmond accounting for almost half of the region’s unabsorbed apartment stock, reflecting where construction and presales were concentrated.

The surplus suggests the market is not delivering the affordable housing many Vancouverites desire.

“It’s housing for whom?” Yan said. “While we are able to build certain types of units, there is a question of, who can afford it?”

Most households in the region don’t have very high incomes, highlighting what some say is a need for the right kind of supply, he said.

There is a stalemate in terms of developers’ prices versus the capacity of prospective home purchasers struggling with affordability, access to financing and job stability, Yan said.

“When you hear from developers, you hear from some of the politicians, they talk about the housing crisis and they talk about the supply problem,” he said.

“This is one [story] that isn’t only about supply but it’s also, who gets to consume it?”

CMHC : Unabsorbed Condos at Record Levels in Metro Vancouver by Jami Makan | BIV