Top prices of high-end homes on the rise

TORONTO — First it was $1 million, then $2 million. How about $3 million?

That’s what Re/Max says is the high end of the luxury housing market — one that has seen an explosion in sales.

The real estate company said Tuesday that Toronto and Vancouver had a huge surge in the number of $3-million homes sold in 2015.

During the first seven months of the year, the Greater Toronto Area saw 379 sales for $3 million-plus, a 179 per cent jump from the same period a year earlier. Greater Vancouver had 572 sales in the same price category, a 79 per cent jump from a year earlier.

In Toronto, the average price of a detached home shot past $1 million this year before falling back. In the Greater Vancouver Area, detached homes still sell for around $1.4 million.

The million-dollar-plus category had 7,249 transactions in the GTA between January and July, a 55 per cent jump from a year ago. In Greater Vancouver, 2,649 homes sold for $1 million or more during the period, a 40 per cent increase from a year ago.

The $2 million-plus is also a strong category with 1,098 homes selling for at least that much in the GTA from Jan. 1 to July 31.

That was up 52 per cent from a year ago. Greater Vancouver $2-million-plus sales jumped 48 per cent during the period.

Calgary continues to be a trouble spot for luxury real estate.

The city saw a 28 per cent decline in the sale of homes for more than $1 million.

“What we’re seeing in Calgary is that luxury buyers are not witnessing a notable decrease in prices, but there is less pressure and stress for buyers during the negotiation process,” said Elton Ash, regional executive vice-president of Re/Max of Western Canada.

Re/Max said foreign buyers are stoking demand for luxury homes in Toronto and Vancouver, based on reports from brokers and agents. The firm doesn’t see a problem.

“While there has been a lot of concern about foreign investors in Canada’s housing market, we’re seeing that the foreign buyers in our major luxury markets are living in their properties,” Gurinder Sandhu, executive vicepresident of Re/Max Integra Ontario-Atlantic Canada Region, said in a statement.