Coldwell Banker Complete Real Estate announces the release of "The Report," A Comprehensive Profile of the 2021 Luxury Real Estate Market in Canada, the US and Mexico - Canada NewsWire | Canada News Media
Coldwell Banker Complete Real Estate announces the release of "The Report," A Comprehensive Profile of the 2021 Luxury Real Estate Market in Canada, the US and Mexico – Canada NewsWire
“The Report” includes input from various Luxury Specialists from Coast to Coast, including Calgary based luxury team; THE STARNES GROUP.
CALGARY, AB, March 8, 2021 /CNW/ – Today, Coldwell Banker Complete Real Estate announces the release of “The Report: 2021 Global Luxury Market Insights,” an in-depth analysis of emerging luxury markets and buyers, curated by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC and Coldwell Banker Global Luxury®
“This is an important publication for those invested in the North American luxury real estate market and includes across the board comparisons for the median sold prices, days on market, and list price to sale price ratios for the top 10% priced properties of key Canadian cities including Calgary“, said Susanita de Diego, Owner/Broker of Calgary-based Coldwell Banker Complete Real Estate.
Included in the report are noteworthy trends shaped by an extraordinary year full of uncertainty and change, as well as top performing luxury markets of 2020 and those to watch in 2021.
“The Report” combined sales data analysis with a number of in-depth interviews from Coldwell Banker® Global Luxury® Property Specialists from diverse real estate markets. An entire section was dedicated to Canada, with Calgary being noted as one of the Canadian markets to watch in 2021.
Rachelle Starnes, President and CEO of luxury real estate specialists, THE STARNES GROUP, a part of the boutique Calgary brokerage Coldwell Banker Complete Real Estate, states “The pent-up demand for luxury homes over $1M is quickly emerging with sales in January and February of 2021 hitting 198 units sold (single family detached homes, CREB MLS® Reported Sales) in Calgary, Rocky View County and Foothills County. Thissets a record for the last five years. The sales for the first two months of 2021 are up 128% over 2020 and 133% from 2019, for the same period.”
Starnes says “We should see an increase in prices with this excessive demand which has been fueled by the lowest uber luxury home prices we have seen in years. Resale prices are far below the cost to build and funds previously used for travel are now being invested in ‘staying at home.’ Because some mortgage interest rates have increased this week from 1.44% to 1.74%, prudent buyers will be pushing to get their interest rate locked in and purchase within the next 30 days.”
As wealthy homebuyers embraced new lifestyles, new trends prevailed. The top preferences expected to have staying power over the next 5 years include: the home office (27.5%), demand for a second home (22.5%), and the desire for single-family detached homes (22.5%).
“The Report” identified four categories of emerging markets across the luxury home sector offering a range of lifestyle amenities, cultural experiences, and educational opportunities.
“International buyers used to account for more than 30% of luxury home sales in our market but travel restrictions ended the influx in 2020. Properties in many luxury areas in and around Calgary which sold in 2012 for C$4M are now being offered for less than $2.5M and properties once offered at C$20M are being auctioned by luxury auction houses with sale prices less than C$6M. Because of the lowest luxury prices we have seen in recent history there are incredible opportunities in Alberta for luxury buyers. We predict even greater demand once the borders reopen and international buyers flood back into Alberta for its clean air and reputation as a destination of choice for luxury buyers”.
– Susanita de Diego & Rachelle Starnes with Coldwell Banker Complete Real Estate
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.
