One of Vancouver’s “finest private estates” – perched on a Point Grey property with ocean views – has hit the market for the staggering asking price of $48 million.
Listed this week by Stilhavn Real Estate Services, the seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom, 12,048-square-foot mansion even boasts its own name – Casa Blanca.
“(It) offers unmatched seclusion, a palpable connection to nature, and magical coastal views. This modern beach house seamlessly intertwines grand scale with intimate design to create understated elegance and sophistication,” the listing says, noting it has never been on the market before.
1450 Blanca Street was assessed as one of the 10 most expensive properties in the province by BC Assessment for 2024, coming in the number nine spot.
The total value was assessed at $38,044,000, with the land accounting for $20,631,000 of that figure and the buildings for $17,413,000.
Image credit: Stillhavn Real Estate Services. The home itself has an indoor gym, a wine cellar, a spa and state-of-the-art security. Outdoors, it has a pool, a hot tub, three fireplaces, ponds with waterfalls, a sports court, a guest house and a four-car garage.
“This is an inspiring opportunity to call one of Vancouver’s most iconic properties home,” the listing concludes.
Annual property taxes for 2023 are $232,919.
Image credit: Stillhavn Real Estate Services.
According to Sotheby’s International Realty’s latest report on luxury real estate, Vancouver sales of properties listed for over $4 million were down 17 per cent in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 2023 and zero properties listed for $10 million or more were sold.
Overall, the report says the market for ultra-expensive properties has softened in cities across the country over the past two years due to higher interest rates and other market forces.
“Persistent tension defined the interactions between home sellers holding onto lofty pricing expectations from previous peaks, and buyers seeking properties priced for the current market,” the report says.
Image credit: Stillhavn Real Estate Services.
“This stand-off slowed transactional momentum in several of Canada’s major metropolitan luxury real estate markets in 2023, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto, where hyper-inflation of luxury housing prices was the previous norm.”
However, the report also said buyers who have been holding back may start to make moves come spring, when prospective buyers are anticipating more inventory coming on the market, as well as a drop in interest rates.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
