Stateside interest in Canadian real estate has a major US property-listing website eyeing an expansion into the Great White North.

Zillow has confirmed that it is mulling adding Canadian listings to its website, which lets users browse US homes—about 110 million of them—from coast to coast.

“In terms of adding Canadian listings, it’s really just something that we’re exploring right now,” Emily Heffter, a Zillow spokesperson, told Harvey Kalles Real Estate. “We know that a lot of our users in the US want to be able to shop for Canadian real estate,” she added.

The Seattle-based company, the brainchild of former Microsoft execs, is in the early stages of any possible listings expansion, and Heffter clarifies that “we don’t have any plans at this time to do, like, a Canadian version of Zillow.” The move would simply be adding Canadian listings to the existing website. The site currently features information on US homes that are for sale and for rent as well as those that aren’t yet on the market. Previous selling prices can be viewed on Zillow.

As for Zillow users’ interest in Canadian property, could it be the political environment in the US? Or is it maybe the relative strength of the Canadian dollar? Heffter couldn’t say, but noted Zillow would research user interest if it moved forward with the push north.

This month, Zillow Group Inc. began communicating with government institutions including the national housing agency Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the prime minister’s office, according to Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada’s registry.

The lobbying activity related to subjects such as national rules about advertising Canadian properties in foreign markets and “increasing transparency in the Canadian real estate market and empowering consumers, government agencies, and researchers,” read the registry notes.

“At this point, it’s just sort of really exploratory, talking to people, figuring out how it works, seeing what interest there is—it’s really very preliminary,” Heffter explained in a phone interview.

 

 

Photo credit:   Flickr user Brad Coy