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New VREB president says lack of supply behind housing prices in Greater Victoria

The new president of the organization representing 1,300 realtors in the Greater Victoria including Saanich says it was “encouraging” that housing affordability was a “major platform focus” in the last provincial election.
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Ara Balabanian is the new president of the Victoria Real Estate Board.

The new president of the organization representing 1,300 realtors in the Greater Victoria including Saanich says it was “encouraging” that housing affordability was a “major platform focus” in the last provincial election.

Ara Balabanian, president of the Victoria Real Estate Board, made that comment in an interview with the Saanich News.

Balabanian said VREB does not have an official response to the outcome, which has left both major parties, the B.C. Liberals and New Democrats, one and three seats respectively, short of a majority.

Both parties are currently in talks with the B.C. Greens, who hold the balance of power with three seats.

“VREB is officially a non-partisan organization, because we represent a diverse membership,” he said. “We of course watched and are watching the results of the recent provincial election with interest just like all B.C. residents and we look forward to working with elected officials in positive ways just as we have in the past.”

Balabanian, a realtor for thirty years, became president of VREB earlier this year, assuming office against the backdrop of a chorus of complaints about high housing prices from business leaders, social activists and politicians of seemingly every political stripe.

But if Balabanian has acknowledged those complaints, he also reiterated what has become a familiar response from the real estate industry.

“It was encouraging that housing affordability was included as a major platform focus in the recent election,” he said. Our Board’s message to government is that right now in Victoria, we have an issue with supply. Lack of supply and high demand is putting pressure on pricing. In order to alleviate that pressure, we need to find more ways to create supply.”

In “grand scheme of things,” the region has a finite supply of land, he said. “Victoria is a desirable place to live and people want to live here for all sorts of reasons,” he said. “We need (and our governments need) to become more creative in the ways we use space.”

Balabanian graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the University of Waterloo and earned a Master’s Degree in engineering at the University of Guelph. He pursued additional graduate studies at the University of B.C and moved to Vancouver Island in 1980, becoming a realtor in 1986.

Since that time, he has been active in nearly all aspects of real estate from helping first time buyers to working with developers on multi-family projects. He has served as managing broker for three real estate offices. He is currently an instructor for BCREA post-licensing and ethics courses, in addition to his duties as president.

Balabanian said his job as president is to support the VREB’s directors as they continue to work on ways to modernize board services and to help the board help realtor members, who in turn help their clients.

“I’m encouraged by the Victoria community’s widespread use of realtors,” he said. “Our members assisted with more than ten thousand transactions last year — that’s thousands and thousands of local folks who chose to work with a local realtor to assist with one of the biggest transactions most people will ever make in their lifetime. I receive a lot of positive feedback from buyers and sellers in our community.”



Wolf Depner

About the Author: Wolf Depner

I joined the national team with Black Press Media in 2023 from the Peninsula News Review, where I had reported on Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula since 2019.
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