The Okanagan has hit the big leagues when it comes to luxury real estate.
Two brands instantly identified with eminent, British, fine art auction houses have lent their names to high-end real estate firms in the Okanagan.
Sotheby’s has had a real estate sales office in Kelowna for years.
And now Christie’s is setting up shop in the Okanagan via Vancouver-based Faith Wilson Christie’s International Real Estate.
<img alt="Faith Wilson of Vancouver-based Faith Wilson Christie’s International Real Estate sees big potential in the Okanagan.” class=”img-responsive” src=”https://www.kamloopsbcnow.com/files/files/images/Faith%20Wilson%20Headshot.jpg”>
“In the past few years, the Okanagan has become known as a luxury real estate destination for people who want to live here full-time or buy their second, third or fourth home,” said Wilson.
“Particularly Kelowna has reached a new level of recognition and prestige for its four seasons, recreational lifestyle where you can ski and golf and get out on the lake and visit wineries.”
In fact, Christie’s spotlights vineyards, orchards and lakes as the Okanagan’s famous trifecta.
<img alt="Seven Stones Winery in Cawston, including the winery, this 2,800-square-foot house and 25 acres, is listed for sale for $8.7 million.” class=”img-responsive” src=”https://www.kamloopsbcnow.com/files/files/images/Seven%20Stones%20Winery%20house.JPG”>
Faith Wilson’s Vancouver-based real estate business is an affiliate of Christie’s and the Okanagan venture is an extension of that.
“We’re a local company, but also a global company because we market properties we have listed for sale internationally,” said Wilson.
The firm already has two realtors based in Kelowna, Terese Cairns and Taylor McFadyen, and two more covering the South Okanagan — Jeffrey Sefton and Audrey Zimmermann.
Faith Wilson expects to open a bricks-and-mortar Christie’s office in Kelowna’s Cultural District in February.
<img alt="This home on Matheson Road in Okanagan Falls, and the 185 acres that goes with it, recently sold for $3.2 million.” class=”img-responsive” src=”https://www.kamloopsbcnow.com/files/files/images/Okanagan%20Falls%20home.JPG”>
Sefton recently sold a 7,300-square-foot post-and-beam home in Okanagan Falls, and the 185 acres that goes with it, for $3.2 million.
Sefton and Zimmermann have the Seven Stones Winery in Cawston listed for sale for $8.7 million.
And Cairns has the 306-acre Thomson Flats property in Kelowna’s Upper Mission listed for sale, but the asking price is available only on request to people making serious inquiries.
<img alt="The view from Thomson Flats, the 306-acre property in Kelowna’s Upper Mission that is listed for sale, but the asking price is only available upon request to those making serious inquiries.” class=”img-responsive” src=”https://www.kamloopsbcnow.com/files/files/images/view%20from%20Thomson%20Flats.JPG”>
The priciest property Wilson has listed is a $24-million, 5,925-acre ranch in100 mile House.
While many of Christie’s listings fit the multi-million, luxury expectation, the firm also represents some average-priced homes and condominiums.
“Luxury means different things to different people,” said Wilson.
“Luxury isn’t a price point, but a service. And we treat all our clients with the same respect and marketing of their property.”
While Wilson has spent most of her 30 years in real estate in Vancouver, she has ties to Kelowna.
Her parents and brother live here and she graduated from George Pringle Secondary School in West Kelowna.
“Setting up in Kelowna feels like I’m coming home,” she said.
“I think we’ll make a nice addition to the community.”
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.
