CITY’S TOP MLS LISTING
House for sale: $ 12.25M
An English- style manor home wrapped entirely in stone is the city’s most expensive ever MLS residential listing, with an asking price of $ 12.25 million.
Sotheby’s International Realty Canada has listed the nearly 10,000- square- foot Aspen Estates home, which includes five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a 1,200- square- foot patio.
The Aspen Ridge Lane S. W. home — which sits on a full acre — was custombuilt by its owner, Jim Quinn of QuinnCorp Communities, the original developer of Aspen Estates, said realtor Corinne Poffenroth, who has the listing.
Poffenroth said the listing includes two separate lots that can be developed.
An enclosed galleria connects the primary residence to a 1,000- square- foot carriage house that sits atop a two- level, seven car garage.
In 2009, a lot in the Aspen area was listed for $ 15 million, which included a home to be built on the property. The previous highest listing in the city for existing homes was $ 12 million — in 2006 for a house in Bel Aire and in 2011 for a French- style castle in Aspen.
According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, residential sales of $ 1- million plus properties this year have declined from the record 2014 which ended with 846 MLS sales at that price point.
Through July, 349 homes in Calgary sold for at least $ 1 million, compared with 539 for the same 2014 period.
Altadore/ River Park leads all neighbourhoods this year with 35 sales followed by Aspen Woods at 29. During the same seven- month period last year, Aspen Woods had 40 high- end home sales.
The most expensive sale this year was in Britannia for $ 5.2 million. The all- time record for highest sale was in Crescent Heights at $ 11.1 million in June 2013.
While the decline in oil prices has had an effect on the luxury real estate market, Poffenroth pointed out that: “This is a very unique property and we are not expecting a typical buyer.”
“Purchasers of these ultra- luxury properties at this price point are not as impacted by shifts in the economy and are able to take a long- term view of a property/ neighbourhoods investment potential.”
Ann- Marie Lurie, CREB’s chief economist, said the luxury sector comprises about 2.8 per cent of the overall market. For the past couple of years, it was just over three per cent.
“We’re not as low as we were relative to what we saw in 2011- 12. But it’s an overall sign, a reflection, of what’s happening in our economy as well,” she said, adding that new listings in the luxury market represent a greater share of the overall market.