GTA rich get richer on surge of record multi-million dollar home sales

Canada’s housing market may be overvalued but that doesn’t seem to bother Toronto’s wealthiest. Last year, the GTA saw record-setting sales of mansions worth over $2 million according to Toronto realtor to the rich Barry Cohen.

"Money flowed into luxury housing throughout the year as buyers moved to convert paper wealth to bricks and mortar,” said the luxury realtor in a release highlighting the figures.

Throughout 2014, more than 1,100 luxury homes changed hands, a 43 per cent increase over the 816 upscale units sold in 2013. Just under 30 of those sales were over $5 million.

The catalyst? A limited inventory of houses in the city’s wealthiest and most desirable neighbourhoods coupled with strong equity gains on existing properties, low interest rates and a recovering economy.

Cohen’s high-class, high-fiving comments shadow, but doesn’t entirely corroborate a report released in early January by Sotheby’s International Realty showing a similar trend across Canada.

The report, which looked at houses worth over $1 million, says the GTA saw year-over-year sales growth of 38 per cent last year, while sales in Vancouver’s high-end housing market climbed 25 per cent. Montreal sales climbed 21 per cent and sales of Calgary homes worth over $1 million grew by 16 per cent.

In Toronto, the most expensive sale was a Belle Epoque French-style manor on the Bridle Path, bought by someone from Mainland China as a place to entertain and listed for $14.8 million. It sold for $14.2 million last year.

Foreign ownership has caused a stir recently; with some analysts worried foreign owners will flood the market in a huge sell-off should the housing market sour. Others worry that offshore investors – which make up 2.4 per cent of the Toronto condo ownership, according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp., are driving the cost of housing up in the already overvalued market.

Sotherby’s estimates foreign ownership in the luxury market is far higher with overseas investors owning around 50 per cent of high-end houses worth $5 million in Vancouver and Toronto.

So it’s hardly surprising amongst the million-dollar home handovers and foreign ownership that international inequality watchdog Oxfam says the richest 1 per cent of people will own half of the world’s wealth by next year. But hey, at least they know where to look for sweet digs to house their wealth, right?