“Ottawa’s clampdown on mortgage borrowing is now gripping high-end homes,” reported the Globe & Mail earlier this month.
The clampdown has yet to establish any hold on Calgary’s luxury market. After 18 days there has already been a total of 32 single family homes and condominiums that have sold for a million dollars or more.
The majority of luxury sales so far in October have been focused in West Calgary and inner-city.
That month-to-date (MTD) total is already higher than the month-end tally’s for October 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Last October had 35 luxury properties sell, and it’s all but certain that figure will be surpassed this month as well.
2012 is looking to set an October sales record
The majority of sales (24) have been in the $1-1.5M price range. Four have sold between $1.5-$2M, and another 4 between $2-3M. The highest sold price MTD has been a unit at Le Germain Residences which sold for $2.85M.
The luxury market isn’t lacking in supply however. There are 432 homes listed for $1M or more, with 249 of them being priced between $1M-1.5M.
Top 10 Most Expensive Homes
Each of the highest priced homes for sale are located in different neighborhoods across Calgary, save for Elbow Park which has 2 listed.
Two homes, one in Aspen Woods and the other in Crescent Heights, have the highest list price at over $11M.
You can view the 10 homes: click to view
Hi Mike,
It is interesting that the high end properties are still moving in the wake of the recent changes to the CMHC rules but perhaps this is because most people purchasing in this price range are move up buyers who have a substantial downpayment. If that’s true then the rule changes would make no difference to the buying ability of such people and they would only be impacted by a change in interest rates.
What I would be interested to know is what is the sale price to listing price ratio (preferably original list price) of properties in this range compared to the median price range. Are people paying face value or are they bargaining down? Also days on the market would be interesting?
I’m wondering if the increase in activity is due to people who have sat out the market for the last couple of years finally starting to buy.
That’s kind of what’s happening in my family. I have kicked the tires since 2008 but am seriously starting to look at moving now.
Thanks for the info Mike!
Hello Marty,
It really depends on the individual property, but generally speaking, yes there is more room to negotiate with high-end homes. It can be awfully tricky to pin a market value on a unique property.
The current list price to sale price ratio is 95%, compared to 97% for the rest of the market.
Here’s a quick summary I put together with SP/LP ratios and DOM for the homes that have sold so far this month: click to view
FYI: the St. Andrew’s Heights sale with an original list price of $14M was a data entry error
FYI#2: the original list price in the sales summary is the original price it was listed at when it sold under that specific MLS number. The property may have been listed for a higher price previously but expired or was terminated. I would need to go into each individual property to view their sales history to find out if it was the true original asking price or its actual Days on Market. (Which of course I do with my clients)
Hi MIke
Would also be interesting to know how many buyers (if any) are newcomers to the city. In-migration has been very strong for the last 18 months and if a reasonable number of newcomers are buying the high-end homes, it would mean they came here for high-end jobs, which would echo what happened when Imperial moved here from Toronto.
Myke
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I wish I had any hard data to offer on that as it’s something I would like to know as well.
-Mike Fotiou
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your reply and amazing data. I agree with all that you say. It’s interesting that the individual sale/list price ratios are all over the place unlike some of the more standard properties in the lower price ranges.
I think Myke has a good point too – It does seem that we are getting some in-migration of senior staff from other parts of the country. Which again means they will probably have large downpayments.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next little while.
Have a great weekend!
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No problem, and have a great weekend as well! 🙂
-Mike Fotiou
One more high-end home sold yesterday for $1,200,000, this time in McKenzie Lake, bringing the MTD total to 33.
The home last sold on MLS in 2006 for $1,105,000
The following chart is from Scotia’s Global Views, October 19, 2012.
It really highlights the contrast Alberta, and specifically Calgary, has been seeing in sales growth compared to the rest of the country.
With another luxury sale yesterday the month-to-date total is 34, now just one shy of last October’s month-end total.
A Bel-Aire home sold for $2,275,000
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Yesterday alone, 5 homes sold for over a million bringing the month-to-date total to 40.