Holy ground: Churches in Vancouver don't come cheap

Congregationslooking to buy a place of worshiparelosing faith in Vancouver's hot real estatemarket.

"To buy a church in Vancouver right now you have to spend at least $2 million," said Leonardo di Francesco, with Church Realtors.

He has been selling places of worship for the past 20 years.

He says it's a seller's market right now with very few options out there for those looking to build a church, temple, mosqueorsynagoguein Metro Vancouver.

"It is really hard to find largeplaces," he said,"Wehave some churches that will spend $15 million on the Vancouver West Side, but we can't find anything. It is very,very difficult right now," he said.

di Francesco believes some owners are holding on to their properties because the market is so hot right now.

"About 15 years ago, we'd have six or sevenchurches on the market on at one time. Now they're for salebut not as many," he said.

Even when a suitable space is found, it is much more complicated to close the deal, he says.

"Selling a church is not like selling a house," he said,"When you sell a church you have board members, you have pastors."

"The congregation has to vote and then a decision is made," he said.

The need for more and largerchurches could be because of new immigrant groups moving to the city, says di Francesco.

To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelledTough to buy a place of worship in Vancouverwiththe CBC's Rick Cluff onThe Early Edition.