Belleville council won’t give up on trying to have the provincial and federal governments beef up regulations on a real estate market that has prices so high many local residents cannot afford to even buy a starter home.
Councillor Kelly McCaw was disappointed to learn that council itself could not regulate the market. She had recently asked city staff to investigate any options the city might have to slow down property speculation in the city.
McCaw, a former realtor with 25 years experience, says the real estate business has changed drastically.
“What we’re finding is that many out of town realtors are bringing their out of town clients here and cannibalizing our local housing economy.”
McCaw said most residential properties are attracting multiple offers, many from out of town buyers, who snap up properties sight unseen in a speculation frenzy and driving prices beyond the reach of Quinte region residents.
“We have to lobby our senior governments hard, something has to be done,” said McCaw holding up a yellow “We Buy Houses” sign featuring out of town phone numbers.
McCaw implored out of town realtors to “please stay out of the community.”
Meanwhile most on council agreed with Councillor Tyler Allsopp that the provincial and/or federal governments should mandate that any one person only be allowed to own two principal residences.
“That way it doesn’t impact people’s lifestyles but you’re not able to then own swaths of homes across multiple regions that just end up driving up pricing for purchasers and driving up rents for people who end up living in those units.”
Councillor Chris Malette said he handled an estate for a late friend and colleague and put his house up for sale. Malette said the home was in a very rundown condition and in his opinion “should have been bulldozed.”
The house got 13 offers. It was listed at $190,000 and sold for $270,000 and in just a handful of days. “Now it’s been cheaply renovated and has two apartments.”
The out of town buyer never set foot on the property before the sale.
Councillor Paul Carr said up to 30% of properties being sold in the province were being bought by investors who most often are making a 17% to 20% return on their money.
All a municipality can do is offer “bandaid solutions.” It’s up to the province to regulate the market. A house needs to be a home, not a commodity.
Councillor Bill Sandison said the provincial and federal governments need to give municipalities the legal tools to cool property speculation off, saying there was no “silver bullet and that it was a multi-faceted problem.”
Mayor Mitch Panciuk said that while many people believe in the sanctity of the free market the current system has created a perverted real estate market.
“This is a problem for senior government and I agree that there should be a limitation on the number of homes a person can own.”
Councillor McCaw will draw up a resolution on property speculation to be circulated to all Ontario municipalities for support, with the goal being to have it sent on to senior levels of government.
