Proposed speculation tax will dissuade Albertans from buying property in B.C.: survey

B.C.'s proposed speculation tax will not only dissuade Albertans from buying homes in that province, but might even incentivize those who do own secondary homes there to sell, according to a survey of Royal LePage realtors.

The taxes, which were introduced in B.C.'s 2018 budget, were intended to target foreign buyers and cool the hot housing market.

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But, the real estate agency said their survey of realtorsin the two provincesfound it will instead primarily target homeowners in Alberta and B.C.

"Albertans were really focused on where their clients would be investing in the future, so the vast majority of people in Alberta believe they will look within the province or elsewhere," said Phil Soper, the president and CEO of Royal LePage.

"As an ex-Calgarian myself, I know there's beautiful country in Montana, in other mountain states to the south, so there are alternatives to the traditional B.C. investment area."

Out of those surveyed, 80.7 per cent of Alberta-based realtors felt that Alberta interest in B.C. recreational properties would decrease, and 75.6 per cent stated that Alberta's who own property in B.C. would likely sell those secondary homes.

Albertans likely to look to U.S. instead, realtors say

Instead, 72.6 per cent of realtors said they felt Albertans would look to their own province for secondary homes, and 46.7 per cent said they would look to the U.S.

B.C. realtors were also concerned about the taxes impact, with 85 per cent saying the new tax policies have hurt consumer confidence, and 78 per cent saying they believe home sales will decrease within the first three months after the announcement of the new policies.

Out of both groups of realtors, 43.5 per cent said they believe the policies would most impact Canadians who live in other provinces who own or are looking to buy property in B.C. just 11.3 per cent thought the taxes would impact international purchasers more.

Sopersaid Albertans are the primary buyers of non-resident properties in B.C., and in some areas near the border like Fernie and Radium, more Albertans own properties than British Columbians.

The tax was originally supposed to increase from 0.5 per cent this year to two per cent in 2018, but after criticism, the government said it would remain at 0.5 per cent for locals, rise to one per cent for out of province investors (like Albertans) and two per cent for foreign investors. They also said it wouldn't apply to properties in certain regions, including the Gulf Islands and Fraser Valley.

Sopersaid he doesn't think the changes to the proposed tax will impact how Alberta realtors see its effects.

"This is a disincentive, it's put in place to say we'd rather have a different subset of people buying property," said Soper. "So the results stand ... the other thing is, taxes, once they come in, rarely fall."

The survey, which polled 535 Royal LePage real estate advisors from B.C. and Alberta, was conducted online between March 14 and 20. Responses were anonymously recorded and analyzed independently, the company said in a release.

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