Sales of Vancouver houses over $1.5m are up 90 per cent
Gordon Clark
Province
This mansion on Drummond Drive in Vancouver sold for $8.5 million, the highest price paid in Canada this year. Photograph by : Jason Payne, The Province
When the mansion on Drummond Drive was put up for sale, some realtors argued that it was a steal, even with a list price of nearly $11 million.
The magnificent, more than 18,000-square-foot Vancouver home on nearly a hectare of land features fabulous views, a two-storey marble foyer, manicured gardens, a waterfall and the usual indoor swimming pool and gold-plated fixtures one expects in a home of that size and quality.
Chatter among realtors had the home possibly fetching as much as $15 million in Vancouver’s overheated real-estate market.
And even though it only sold for $8.5 million when it finally changed hands in February, the property still holds top honours as the most-expensive home sold in Canada so far this year.
According to a report on luxury homes released yesterday by Re/MAX, the mansion is part of a trend across Canada that has seen a huge surge in the sale of luxury homes worth more than $500,000 to $1.5 million, depending on the community.
“Million-dollar home sales are climbing at a rate never before seen in major centres across the country,” said Michael Polzler, Re/MAX executive vice-president for Ontario and the Atlantic provinces.
Of 13 markets in the survey, all saw increases in the sale of luxury homes except Windsor, where fears of a downturn in the auto sector is driving down sales.
In Vancouver, 403 luxury homes worth more than $1.5 million have sold so far this year, a 90-per-cent increase over the 212 that sold during the same period in 2005.
Sixty-two homes over $1 million sold this year in Victoria, 48 per cent more than the 42 that sold last year.
In Kelowna, 36 homes over $1 million were sold — 125 per cent more than in 2005.
The biggest increase in sales was in Edmonton, which had a 177-per-cent jump in sales of homes over $500,000.
More expensive homes are selling because there are more rich people, said Elton Ash, Re/MAX’s executive vice-president in Western Canada.
“The surge in upper-end sales can be directly attributed to three factors,” he said. “Existing homeowners cashing in on substantial equity gains to reinvest in the top of the market, strong economic performance across the country and solid consumer-confidence levels.”
The Re/MAX report said limited inventories of homes for sale in many markets across Canada, specifically Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, are “placing serious upward pressure on prices in ‘blue-chip neighbourhoods,’ with many properties now selling in multiple-offer situation.”
The most expensive home currently for sale in Canada is a waterfront estate in Oakville, Ont., that is listed for $45 million.
© The Vancouver Province 2006