Figure 1: Character Ross Geller screaming “Pivot!” in the TV show, Friends. (Image: Warner Bros. Television / via GIPHY)
For my generation, “Pivot!” has become synonymous with the famous “Friends” episode where characters Ross Geller, Rachel Green and Chandler Bing try to maneuver a clearly oversized, newly purchased sofa up an apartment stairwell. Ross shouts “Pivot!” at every turn, but no amount of repositioning solves the underlying problem that the sofa will not fit. Instead, it becomes stuck in the narrow stairwell and is eventually cut apart and returned to the store. While it makes for great comedy on screen, in real life, the pressure to pivot or adjust has become increasingly stressful for many businesses in the homebuilding industry.
In an interesting article in The Globe and Mail on August 12 by Howard Chai, “As Presale Market Slows, Do-it-All Firms Forced to Pivot,” (available to Globe and Mail subscribers), it spotlights the shifts in services and business models local real estate marketing firms are undergoing as the presale condominium market disintegrates. While much of the focus has been on the builders and developers in new-home construction, the ripple effect continues through the entire homebuilding ecosystem. For context, the story cites data from MLA Canada showing only 42 presale homes were released in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley in July 2026, compared with 1,426 in July 2021.
WHAT HAVAN MEMBERS ARE TELLING US
For HAVAN, an association representing more than 1,000 businesses across Metro Vancouver, this reflects what we are hearing directly from members, that conditions are among the worst many have ever experienced. The pressure extends well beyond new-home construction. Renovators, custom builders, professional service firms, suppliers, trades and manufacturers are all essential to delivering housing, and all are feeling the effects.
Our recent member survey, conducted in preparation for the October municipal election, helps illustrate both the severity and duration of these conditions. We asked members to think about their businesses, comparing the current state of the market with one, three and five years ago. While the responses reflect each member’s individual business experience, 63 per cent said the market is worse today than it was one year ago. Compared with three years ago, 81 per cent said conditions are worse, with 40 per cent describing them as much worse. Looking back at five years, 79 per cent said the market is worse today, including 56 per cent who said it is much worse.
ADAPTING TO SURVIVE
As in any market, businesses that adapt and evolve are more likely to remain in the game. Some renovators are taking on smaller jobs between major projects to keep their crews busy when a few years ago that was not necessary. Some custom builders are shifting to different forms of housing like multiplexes, while some larger developers pivoted from market housing to rental, while others are pursuing commercial work. And those in the professional services and supply side are also shifting, including how they are marketing, considering new markets, and other strategies to keep their pipelines moving.
Adaptability is part of any successful business but with market conditions remaining as challenging as they are, for an uncertain amount of time, there is no doubt that when the tides finally do change, the industry will emerge looking different. The question is how different, and how many businesses, jobs and future housing projects will be lost along the way.
TAKING THIS TO MUNICIPAL CANDIDATES
HAVAN will use its survey findings throughout our municipal election campaign to help candidates understand the economic contribution of the residential construction industry and the pressures affecting the businesses within it. Following the election, we will continue this work with successful candidates as they take office and begin making decisions affecting housing delivery.
Municipal leaders need to understand that this is not a correction confined to the presale condominium market or any other single segment. Its effects reach across the entire industry and the regional economy it supports. Reducing fees and taxes, shortening approval timelines and providing greater regulatory certainty are necessary steps, but supply-side reforms alone will not be enough.
BEYOND SUPPLY-SIDE FIXES
Governments at all levels also need policies that restore consumer confidence, improve access to financing and stimulate demand for new homes. We continue to work alongside our colleagues at CHBA BC and CHBA National to advocate for policy changes that support this key GDP-generating industry.
Like Ross’s sofa, the problem is not always a failure to pivot. Sometimes the space itself no longer works. When that happens, the answer is not to keep forcing another pivot but instead, renovating the space by reforming the policies and conditions preventing housing projects from moving forward.
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HAVAN continues to work with CHBA BC and CHBA to advocate for all levels of government to work together tress the challenges of the housing industry including zoning restrictions, density limits, and NIMBYism.
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