Owners scramble to sell short-term rentals

now to one of the province's strategies to create more housing BC's new laws on short-term rentals are less than four months away from taking effect and that's triggered a wave of owners trying to offload their Investments largely without success ctv's Rob buffam explains the owners of this microloft in downtown Victoria are a couple who bought it as a retirement investment to rent out shortterm and to stay in when visiting grandkid in Victoria they say the new laws coming into force in may have thrown them for a financial emotional loop I feel the rug was pulled from under my feet I was given short notice roughly 90% of the units here are rented out shortterm it's one of 23 buildings in Victoria where zoning exemptions allow short-term rentals zoning that those who bought here paid more for the premium that people paid for this Airbnb zoning the short-term rental zoning it's disappeared and that was about um I would say about 15 to 20% of the property value as of May 1st those exemptions will be gone the new rules will also essentially restrict short-term rentals and urban centers to owners primary residences the pending changes have triggered a wave of owners wanting to offload their Investments but the units are too small for most looking for long-term living is this realtor probably close to 10 listings there um and nothing has sold since June Nancy Payne runs a short-term Rental Management business she had 60 clients most own just one property she now has two clients and is closing her business come may consider these as small businesses um where people paid their license fee they paid their taxes they did their research to buy these properties as a small business but housing Advocates say the state of the housing crisis justifies lost investments in this case the government has prioritized those core needs you know arguably the the rights that people should have to obtain safe and secure housing uh and at the loss of investors and in our opinion that's a move that has to be made the province issued a statement today noting we're already seeing reports of former short-term rentals coming back to the long-term housing market including both listings of former short-term rentals as furnished long-term rental homes and short-term rental units that have been listed for sale since the province passed the legislation so far at least most of those new listings aren't getting snapped up Robert buffam CDV news Victoria

Channel: CTV Vancouver

Views: 327,105

Keywords: ctv news, ctv news vancouver, ctv news at six, ctv vancouver, b.c. news, vancouver news, politics, breaking news, mi-jung lee

Id: VCByljAtro0

Length: 2min 38sec (158 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 11 2024