Letter: If developers really cared about affordability, they’d be hailing downturn in prices, Reports

Re: “Lower Mainland’s presale home absorption rate sees dismal April: report,” online, May 6.

The Courier’s recent article about home presales in the Lower Mainland quotes that “approximately 5,000 concrete units within 17 development projects have postponed their sales launches and are instead opting to await for more favourable market conditions.”

The development industry lobby has been opining for years that its primary goal is to make housing more affordable — and the only solution to make housing cheaper is to build more supply. Fast forward, sales have softened and prices have dipped. If the development industry had truly been trying to create affordability shouldn’t it be hailing this downturn in prices? The fact that developers are now holding back supply awaiting the return of higher house prices before selling suggests that the industry had simply been virtue signaling all along.

David Carman,

Vancouver