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Cameron Muir, chief economist with the B.C. Real Estate Association, said rental housing gets “crowded out” for other uses, which is often ownership-type properties that offer revenue for developers even as land prices rise.

“If you’re going to build any kind of development, you start off with what the end product is going to be and what the market can bear and then you work yourself back from all the costs and the residual value is in the land,” he said.

“If it’s zoned rental only, of course the value will increase â¦ but it will only be limited to the sphere of the rental market.”

Brian McCauley, president and CEO of Concert Properties, agreed the legislation would impact property prices, but added it isn’t necessarily an incentive for developers to build more rental.

Concert has just under 5,000 rental units across B.C. and Ontario, and plans to develop more.

Examples of better incentives include support from the province or federal government to finance new developments, McCauley said.

“You can’t get as high of a financing rate so you are investing more capital in building a rental apartment building,” he said.

For Concert, McCauley said financial gains are sought by increasing and maintaining a large portfolio of rental housing.

Funding that’s becoming available through the federal government’s new national housing strategy and B.C.’s promise for $6 billion toward housing development are also intriguing opportunities, McCauley said.