BC Economic Forecast Council praises housing policies, but says government needs to do more, faster
A group of leading economists broadly praised the B.C. government’s push to create more housing, but also dampened expectations of lower housing prices soon while calling for more measures to increase rental housing.
Some also warned of a recession ahead and predicted B.C. would suffer if former US president Donald Trump were to return to the White House.
Finance Katrine Conroy heard these and other assessments from government’s economic forecast council, with whom she meet for several hours Monday morning. Conroy’s annual gathering with the group — many of them chief economists with Canada’s largest financial institutions — came after she had presented her government’s second-quarter economic outlook.
Both occasions point to slower economic growth in 2024. The economic forecast council pegged average growth for 2024 at 0.5 per cent GDP. Some predict conditions that will feel like a recession even though B.C. might not technically experience negative growth. But economists also generally praised the state of B.C.’s finances and the recent run of housing legislation, saying housing affordability is going to get worse, before getting better.
One economist said current measures won’t help with affordability until 2029 and won’t start bending the cost curve downward until 2035. Another predicted declining home-ownership rates and urged government to…
