Canada's efforts to boost housing supply is facing a hurdle as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) flags declining construction productivity across the country, mirroring concerns in B.C. “There is now little debate over the need for a massive increase in supply to make housing more affordable in Canada. The conversation has now moved to the ways and means by which this can be achieved.
One avenue that should be followed is increasing productivity in residential construction, for example labour productivity,” said CMHC deputy chief economist Ken Hughes in the March 7 report. But what does this look like in B.C.? Jeannine Martin, president of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association, said that construction productivity in the province is seeing a retraction. The value of proposed construction projects in B.C. sat at $221 billion in the spring of 2023; however, this declined to $174 billion as of fall 2023, according to the latest data from the BC Construction Association (BCCA