Re-Max reports upswing in luxury home sales in major Canadian cities

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. (CP) — Sales of luxury homes have registered an "unprecedented upswing" in the first half of this year, real estate company Re-Max said Wednesday.
In a report on 16 major markets across the country, Re-Max said high-end home sales were up in all regions between January and July. The highest percentage increase was seen in Edmonton, where sales of more than $900,000 in value rose 521 per cent, Re-Max said. In the Greater Toronto Area, sales of homes costing more than $1.5 million increased 28 per cent, while in Ottawa, homes with an upper-end price point of$750,000 saw sales rise 115 per cent.

Canadian Condo Market

Toronto high-rise sales, meanwhile, are in their second year of 24% increases year-to-date. The luxury hotel-condo -- usually commanding the top floors of some architectural jewel and bearing a marquee name like Ritz or Four Seasons -- is the latest boom's must-have. "It is now common to see 2,000-to 2,500-square-foot condos selling for $2-million or more with property taxes and condo fees to match," Sherry Cooper, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a recent note. "Per square foot, condo prices are now higher than single-family home prices of similar quality and location. "At the Four Seasons hotel-condo in Yorkville for example, a 2,500-square foot condo sells for more than $4-million; a 3,900-square-foot penthouse has a $7.4-million price tag.

Electra Real Estate buys Winnipeg office building

Electra Real Estate Ltd. has bought 60% of a 32-storey office building in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada at a value of C$102.5 million, plus C$1.5 million in related costs (NIS 412.9 million altogether). The office building has 55,500 sq.m. net rental space, and 62,000 sq.m. in additional building rights. The main tenants are Canadian government agencies, accounting firms Deloitte Touche and Ernst & Young, and Rail Canada. The building is 94% occupied, generating C$17.25 million (NIS 68.5 million) in annual rent. Net rent is C$8.35 million (NIS 33.1 million) a year, for a return on investment of 8%.

Government must pay fair share of property taxes: judge

OTTAWA - In landmark decisions that could have repercussions for cities and towns across the country, a Federal Court judge has ruled that the federal government and its Crown corporations have a duty to pay their fair share to municipalities for the properties they own. In three cases that pitted the City of Montreal against the federal government and two of its Crown corporations, Justice Luc Martineau ruled that federal officials cannot arbitrarily decide how much they will pay the city, and overturned decisions by bureaucrats to pay the city considerably less than the city would have received from a private property owner.