Toronto, Vancouver luxury home sales drop

TORONTO • Sales of luxury homes in two of Canada’s most expensive cities fell this year, as the high-end real estate market continued to feel the impact of foreign buyers taxes.

Realty brokerage Re/Max says sales of single-detached homes priced from $1 million to $2 million fell 35 per cent from a year ago in both Toronto and Vancouver.

According to the annual report, released Tuesday, sales of single-detached homes in the $2-millionto-$3-million range were down 50 per cent in Toronto and 22 per cent in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, homes that were sold for more than $3 million dropped 44 per cent in Toronto and 45 per cent in Vancouver.

Re/Max says homebuyers have been grappling with the introduction of foreign buyers taxes in Ontario and B.C., along with increased property transfer taxes and school taxes on B.C. homes over $3 million.

“All the new rules that the government implemented, along with the foreign buyers tax and the new lending regulations, it all just put a crunch on the most expensive part of the market,” said Christopher Alexander, executive vice-president and regional director of Re/Max Integra’s Ontario-Atlantic business.

The low-end of the luxury condo market saw increases driven mainly by millennials who are using their inheritances and baby boomers looking to downsize, the report said.

The report says condo sales in the $1-millionto-$2-million range were up two per cent year over year in Toronto and six per cent in Vancouver. Calgary saw their condo sales in this price range jump by three per cent, while Victoria sales climbed 19 per cent.