What’s happening in the Canadian upper-tier market? RE/MAX has released their Upper-Tier market
report for the first quarter of 2013. It
shows that high-end home sales are down in many major Canadian markets, as
compared to first quarter of 2012. The price points identified in the charts
are the starting prices for what RE/MAX defines as luxury for each market.
As you can see, Alberta cites like Calgary and Edmonton are the hottest markets. Energy industry growth is fueling high home demand in the province. British Columbia’s markets, by contrast, are going through major downward adjustment after a boom which was driven by a big influx of international buyers and uncertainty created by pending provincial elections.
“Luxury sales were slow out of the gate in 2013, but momentum is clearly starting to build,” says Gurinder Sandhu, Executive Vice President and Regional Director, RE/MAX Ontario-Atlantic Canada. “A growing number of purchasers are moving off the sidelines and into the market—even in centres that reported a dip in first-quarter sales. All the indicators are pointing to a traditional spring market poised for considerable growth.”
Sandu also indicated that the top-end represented a greater percentage of overall residential sales in many markets in Q1 2013 in comparison to Q1 2012. In some cases, the upper-end is still outperforming the overall market in terms of residential real estate activity. Affluent purchasers remain committed to homeownership, with many taking advantage of historically attractive interest rates, and in some instances, lower housing values, to make their moves. Equity gains have also factored into the equation, given substantial increases in housing values over the past decade.
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