New legislation that would restrict British Columbians from listing their investment properties on Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms may already have led to an uptick in sale listings for these properties in Victoria, according to an analysis by a long-time housing market observer.
At least 22 owners of condos in two dozen buildings in downtown Victoria listed their units for sale in the last two weeks of October, according to an analysis of listings shared with The Globe and Mail by Leo Spalteholz, a Victoria-based advocate for zoning reform who has been performing professional housing market research for the past decade.
He noted that the last half of October is ordinarily the beginning of the slow season for real estate on the West Coast. “It’s not a great time to be listing anything, so you have to be super motivated as a seller to list now,” he said. There are signs the same effect is taking hold in other B.C. cities. Jolene Iglesias, a realtor in Kelowna, said she had until recently devoted about a quarter of her business to helping investors from B.C. and Ontario scoop up some of the 700 units legally allowed to be used as short-term rentals in the tourist hot spot.