Vancouver realtor Mayur Arora announced January 21 that he will start accepting commissions on property sales in bitcoins at his OneFlatFee.ca real estate brokerage company.
His announcement follows last week's announcement by Abbotsford developer Quantum Properties that it has become the first Canadian real estate developer that it knows of to accept bitcoin for deposits on homes.
Established developers such as Bosa Properties are taking a wait and see approach and are not yet willing to hop on the bitcoin bandwagon, Bosa Properties senior vice-president Daryl Simpson told BIV.
The Arora announcement is attracting the same feedback from Vancouver's most successful real estate brokers.
"To be on the bleeding edge, I guess, is interesting but a real estate deal is a very sizable transaction and for most it's the single largest transaction they will make in their life," MAC Real Estate Solutions principal Cameron McNeill told BIV January 21.
"For those people to be motivated by the liquidity of an alternative currency versus focusing on first what is the right asset for their needs and then who is the best professional to serve them, I think is putting their priorities in the wrong order."
McNeill's company last year sold about 1,200 multi-family homes worth between $500-600 million.
Arora said bitcoins are having a significant impact on the economy and that Canada is bitcoin friendly.
At the end of August, the world's first Bitcoin ATM opened at a Waves coffee shop on Robson Street. In its first week, it did $100,000 worth of transactions, with more than 500 unique users registered – 90% of whom were buying – according to Bitcoiniacs, the Vancouver company that owns it.
"I would expect others to follow my lead," Arora said. "Bitcoins can't be ignored as a currency, particularly in the real estate business."
