Like many of her clients, realtor Jenny Celly and her family moved from southern Ontario to southeast New Brunswick to find a more affordable home.

The slower pace and quality of Maritime life was very appealing.

“There’s less traffic. People, because they’re not as stressed out, they are friendlier, in my opinion, so that attracts a lot of people,” said Celly.

Moneysense.ca and Zoocasa, a consumer real estate search platform, have ranked Moncton as the top place in Canada to buy real estate for the third straight year.

Forty-five neighbourhoods and municipalities were ranked using factors such as the average price of a home, price growth over time and neighbourhood characteristics.

According to the rankings, the Greater Moncton area is highest in value and best buying conditions and has a seen a growth of 69 per cent over the past three years.

Celly said the region is still seeing buyers from Ontario and British Columbia purchasing homes sight unseen using Zoom or FaceTime – something that was very popular during the pandemic.

“I put myself in their shoes. So I’m saying, ‘OK, it smells kind of funny,’ because you are being their eyes and they will put in an offer after seeing the home via video. Most of the buyers are seeing their home for the first time on closing day,” said Celly.

One of realtor Tracy Gunter’s homes in north end Moncton recently sold in less than two weeks.

Realtor Tracy Gunter is pictured. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

Gunter said it’s a seller’s market here, but there isn’t a lot of inventory.

“We don’t have a lot to sell. So, our buyers are coming in, they want to spend their money, but we don’t have the homes for them to buy. There is a house shortage,” said Gunter.

Gunter said what is selling are semi-detached homes and properties under $400,000 to people from outside the province and the country.

The average price of a home in the Greater Moncton area last year was $328,383.

“Things are slowing down a little bit, but people are still coming,” said Gunter. “Right now, it’s just finding homes for the people that need them.”

Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said the city’s appeal is its lifestyle and residents.

“We have kind, compassionate, collaborative people that want to work together that are engaged. They want to be a part of it all. There’s a real feeling of positive energy in our community right now,” said Arnold. “There’s really amazing people in our community.”

Realtor Jenny Celly is pictured. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

Celly said the area is attracting many families, retirees, and investors.

The main reason: the prices.

“We’re looking at bigger markets, bigger cities where prices are two to three times more than what you find in Moncton,” said Celly. “A lot of people who are looking at the Maritimes are also looking at the quality of life.”

Saint John was ranked second for best places to buy real estate, Fredericton fourth and Halifax/Dartmouth was sixth. 

For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.

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The founders of a Saskatoon real estate investment company that left investors with millions of dollars in losses have reached a settlement with Saskatchewan’s financial and consumer watchdog.

In a settlement with the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority (FCAA) approved earlier this month, Rochelle Laflamme and Alisa Thompson, the founders of the now-defunct company Epic Alliance, have agreed to pay fines totalling $300,000, and are restricted from selling and promoting investment products for 20 years.

In 2022, a court-ordered investigation found that $211.9 million dollars invested in the company by multiple investors were mostly gone.

The meltdown of Epic Alliance resulted in significant financial losses for more than 120 investors, mainly from British Columbia and Ontario.

The company offered a “hassle-free” landlord program — offering to manage homes for out-of-province investors.

Under the landlord program, the investor would take out the mortgage on the home and Epic Alliance would assume responsibility for finding tenants and maintaining the property.

Many of the homes actually sat vacant as the company promised the investor a 15 per cent guaranteed rate of return on their investment.

A Saskatoon attorney representing some of the investors told CTV News in 2022 the pair were “using new money to pay old money.”

“Investment products should generate returns on (their) own, not by acquiring new money,” Mike Russell said.

The company also offered a “fund-a-flip” program, where investors could buy homes through Epic Alliance — which would oversee improvements and upgrades — and then sell for a profit, often advertised as a 10 per cent return on a one-year investment.

In their settlement with the FCAA, Laflamme and Thompson admit to selling investments when they were not licenced to do so, and continuing to raise investment money after the FCAA had ordered them to stop.

What the settlement doesn’t address are any allegations of fraud.

“The settlement agreement is silent on the issue of misrepresentations and / or fraud,” the FCAA panel wrote in its April 5 decision.

“There are no facts before the panel to evaluate whether the respondents engaged in misrepresentations or fraud vis-à-vis their investors. Furthermore, the statement of allegations did not allege the respondents’ conduct was fraudulent … the respondents’ culpability is limited to these specific violations of the Securities Act.”

Because there was no finding of fraud, the FCAA ruled it was not necessary to permanently ban Laflamme and Thompson from the investment industry.

“A permanent ban is not appropriate in these circumstances given that there is no agreement or finding that the respondents were fraudulent,” the decision says. 

“A 20-year prohibition from involvement in the capital markets of Saskatchewan is significant.”

While the FCAA acknowledges the effect Laflamme and Thompson’s conduct had on their investors, the settlement does not include any compensation for them.

According to the FCAA, 96 investors paid an estimated $4.3 million to Epic Alliance over six years.

In January 2022, Laflamme and Thompson hosted a Zoom meeting to inform investors of the company’s imminent demise.

According to a transcript of the call included in a court filing, the company’s financial situation was described as a “s–t sandwich.”

“Unfortunately, anybody who had any unsecured debts … it’s all gone. Everything is gone. There is no business left and that’s what it is,” the transcription said.

Laflamme and Thompson started Epic Alliance in 2013.

—With files from Keenan Sorokan

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The long-concealed market value of Tokyo’s largest skyscrapers is being unveiled by activist investors.

In Japan, there’s a huge gap — 22 trillion yen ($143 billion) by one estimate — between how companies value their real estate assets on their books, versus what those same properties would fetch if sold in the current market. That comes from two factors: First, many of the island nation’s firms have held onto properties for decades, each year writing down the cost of fixed assets due to annual depreciation, a common accounting practice. But at the same time, property prices have soared.

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