Luxury homes sales not only recovered from recessionary depths in the first quarter of this year, ReMax Canada said they shattered previous all-time records in most Canadian cities studied.
Attributing the upswing in sales to
“improved economic performance, increased personal wealth, immigration and foreign investment” in its Upper End Market Trends report, ReMax Canada said previous sales records for high-end homes broke records in nine of the 13 regions examined.
The real estate sales company didn't provide statistics to back up the reasons for the bounce in sales, but did allow that the comparisons to last year's first quarter are flattering because very few people were buying and selling through the recession.
“It is
anecdotal information gleaned from interviews we completed with the brokers in each market, and based on trends they are noticing in the marketplace,” a spokesperson said Monday.
“As such, statistics aren't available, but it is a trend that was mentioned consistently among markets.”
ReMax's definition of a luxury home varies by market, from $400,000 in St. John's to $2-million in Greater Vancouver. The amount is usually arrived at by looking at the top 1-to-5 per cent of sales in any given market.