Pot is legal and it feels as though not much has changed. However, while the future may be green, just how legal pot at home will impact the real estate industry remains a bit uncertain with buyers and sellers.
That’s because, despite the drug’s newly-minted legal status, questions linger over how personal use and cultivation may impact the value, desirability, and even the insurable status of homes for sale.
According to a new national survey conducted by Zoocasa that polled over 1,300 Canadians, sentiments remain largely negative regarding the following issues:
- Consumption and cultivation in private residences
- Living in close proximity to where legal cannabis is sold
- Tenant and landlord rights when it comes to the presence of legal cannabis in a rental unit
These feelings, however, seem specifically negative towards pot rather than other substances like alcohol. Furthermore, Millennials are demographically much more forgiving in regards to their perception of pot cultivation and use within a home.
READ: How To Grow Pot At Home In 5 Easy Steps: Growing Marijuana For Beginners
What Grows On Behind Closed Doors
According to the survey data, most Canadians feel that smoking cannabis inside their homes is a generally bad idea. A full 64 per cent of those who indicated they were homeowners felt doing so would harm its resale value, an increase from the 39 per cent who indicated as such in Zoocasa’s previous Housing Trends Report.
As well, over half of homeowners, 57 per cent, felt that growing even the legal amount of cannabis, would have a negative impact on a home’s value.
READ: Here Are The Rules For Smoking Pot In Ontario While In Public
This stigma extends to prospective home buyers, too: A total of 52 per cent respondents say they’d be less likely to consider specific houses if they knew even a legal amount of cannabis had been grown in them.
However, Millennials are demographically least likely to consider home cultivation stigmatizing, with only 38 per cent indicating that a legal amount of cannabis grown in a home would reduce their desire to buy that property, compared to 58 per cent of Gen Xers and 59 per cent of Boomers.
Not In My Backyard
While Canadians will now be able to purchase the drug legally from a provincially-regulated retailer, homeowners aren’t exactly welcoming dispensaries to the neighbourhood with open arms.
Zoocasa’s findings reveal nearly half of all respondents, 42 per cent, feel having a cannabis dispensary in the neighbourhood would harm the value of nearby homes.
As well, 48 per cent of respondents stated the presence of a dispensary nearby would reduce their desire to purchase a specific property.
READ: 5 Ways To Smoke Pot (Almost) Odourlessly — If Allowed In Your Building
These sentiments appear to be cannabis specific, however – only 14 percent of all respondents stated they would feel uncomfortable with a new liquor store opening in their neighbourhood.
Again, Millennials are least likely to be pessimistic about the presence of a dispensary, with only 31 per cent indicating they’d feel a dispensary would reduce the value of homes nearby, compared to 50 percent of Xers and 47 percent of Boomers.
About This Report
The findings are based on an online survey conducted by Zoocasa.com from Sep 27, 2018 to Oct 3, 2018 of over 1,380 respondents who live in Canada. The estimated margin of error is +/- 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
