At this Quebec condo, you won’t have to hide your Airbnb rentals

The Way Home is a series looking at the issues and challenges for people who are in the market for a home.

Airbnb's rise to prominence in Canada shows no signs of abating.

A report this year, by the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto and HLT Advisory Inc., revealed that the number of Airbnb listings in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Calgary has grown by 140 per cent since early 2015.

But while owners of detached, semi-detached and townhouses in areas zoned for residential and mixed use have happily cashed in, most condominium owners have been left out in the cold, or in the shadows. That's not to say condo owners haven't put their homes up for short-term rentals, but condominium bylaws generally prevent such rentals.

However, a new condo development in Quebec City may be about to change all that. Condos LB9, which is yet to break ground and started selling its units last June, is located in the Lebourgneuf area of the Quebec capital, about a two-minute walk from the Vidéotron Centre, which would be the home of the city's hockey team if the National Hockey League decides to return.

The units range in price from $159,000 to $660,000, and so far 40 to 50 units have been sold, with the developers looking to break ground later this year.

"I think it's really interesting because I've sold a couple places in the last year where people had this specific request but it couldn't work for them," says Matt Parker, a realtor with Keller Williams in Puget Sound, Wash., and author of Real Estate Smart: The New Home Buying Guide.