Luxury homes, a growing market

Strangely, the second home of ex-hockey player Mario Lemieux, in the Laurentians, “has been on the market” for four years now. Despite the years, no buyer has yet agreed to extend the $22 million requested to acquire it.

But contrary to popular belief, the lack of buyers wealthy enough to afford such a “pied-à-terre” on the mountainside of Mont-Tremblant is not at all to blame, assures real estate broker Michel Naud, whom the president of the Pittsburgh Penguins continues – despite everything – to trust.

“Houses for millionaires, we are constantly selling them in the region. There are many more families of means than is generally believed. For example, I am currently in contact with two billionaires. One is Canadian, and the other is American. I wouldn’t say it’s common, but they are possible things. You just have to find the right one. »

The 1% Club

These potential buyers, often members of the very select club of the richest 1% on the planet, do not necessarily come from very far away.

Quebec, it is true, attracts few very large fortunes, from the United Arab Emirates for example, as do, among others, Switzerland or France.

By contrast, he explains, Tremblant attracts a lot of wealthy New York families. From regions further south too, such as Florida and Mexico, says the broker associated with the real estate agency Engel & Völkers.

“It is also true for Monegasques and Londoners. The English use the direct link between London and Montreal. They tell me that it doesn’t take much longer for them to come to Tremblant than to go to the Alps. »

This is the type of visitor who, at the turn of a ski getaway, could be tempted by the purchase of a luxury second home like the one the ex-hockey player is trying to get rid of.

Named the Chateau Fleur de Lys, the 17,000 sq.², overlooking Lake Tremblant, has 8 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, 4 powder rooms, 17 fireplaces, an elevator and 4 garages, among others. It is offered, fully furnished, for $21,999,906. Its municipal and property taxes exceed $72,000 per year.

The investor from elsewhere

However, it would be a myth to believe that it is necessary to court strangers to sell such houses.

“There is a lot of money in Quebec. Many can afford properties of $5, 6, 7 million in Quebec. And much more, no problem,” says Mr. Naud.

For example, in 2021, according to data collected by The newspaper, the highest transaction in Mont-Tremblant was concluded for $11.8 million. The property of Harley Gregory Chamandy, one of the co-founders of Gildan, was sold to François Carignan, president of Purkinje. This Quebec company works in the development and integration of software solutions for the health sector.

This is also the opinion of Marie-Yvonne Paint, a renowned real estate broker in the market for luxury residences in Westmount and the Golden Square Mile district, in the Ville-Marie borough, in Montreal. Since the beginning of 2022, it has already had seven sales of more than $4 million to its credit.

“Of course I have clients who come from elsewhere. But overall, I would tell you very frankly that 80% of the transactions I conclude are with Quebecers, members – as we say – of Québec inc. »

It is also approximately, she adds, the proportion found in the private residences of the Ritz-Carlton hotel, a popular address for the wealthiest of the metropolis.

“Out of 45 residents, I estimate that only about 10% are of foreign nationality. It’s not huge. »

The new rich of techno

The latter notes that the wealthy clientele currently found on the Montreal luxury market is increasingly made up of young professionals from the technology sector.

The still emerging fields of 3D animation, fintechs and proptechselectronic commerce and artificial intelligence, would attract or create fortunes that were not seen, or more rarely, a decade ago.

Our research, carried out in the sales registers of the last two years, tends to prove him right. The two largest transactions recorded in Quebec last year, all over $18 million, were carried out by tech entrepreneurs.

This is the case of Hui Hung, partner of Denis Martineau, founder of Aptilon Health Reach Net, and Pinar Cetin, wife of Rami Atallah, co-founder of the luxury online retailer Ssense.

Two second homes?

The same is true for the main resort areas neighboring the Montreal region. For the past two years, they’ve been taken over by hordes of deep-pocketed city dwellers, determined to get closer to nature.

As proof, twice as many residences (8 in total) for more than $4 million were sold in Mont-Tremblant in 2020 and 2021 than in the previous three years.

The same phenomenon was observed in Magog and Austin, in the Eastern Townships. Twelve residences for more than $4 million have been sold there in two years, compared to only four in the previous three years (2017 to 2019).

So why, in these circumstances, has a castle in Tremblant failed to find a buyer in four years?

“I was extremely close to finishing at least twice,” says Michel Naud. It is circumstantial, the price has never been an issue. But COVID, he continues, hasn’t helped. »

Far from being discouraged, the latter does not exclude the possibility that the Eastern Townships, yet often presented as a rival of the Laurentians, hide the next owner of Château Fleur de Lys. Because, he confides, rather than choosing, the wealthiest in Quebec tend to own second homes in both regions at the same time.

“It’s not always one or the other,” he explains. They spend the hot season at their summer residence on Lake Memphremagog. And they come to spend the winter in Mont-Tremblant. The latter can very well, and many do, share their free time, and their heritage, between the two regions”.

— With the collaboration of Philippe Langlois

Montreal: as expensive as in Paris for a luxury residence

The rhetoric that residential real estate prices in Montreal remain lower than those found in cities like Toronto and Vancouver is beginning to have had its day, particularly in the luxury residence segment.

^{Martin Jolicoeur and Jean-Michel Genois Gagnon, Le Journal de Montreal and Le Journal de Québec}

In any case, this is the opinion of Marie-Yvonne Paint, whom some consider to be the “queen of luxury real estate” in the metropolis. For thirty years, the latter has devoted itself almost exclusively to the real estate needs of the most affluent.

“This idea that we are fed ad nauseam that Montreal real estate is a bargain compared to Toronto is no longer relevant,” she says. Montreal has made up for the price delay it could have on its vis-à-vis. There is no doubt for me. »

Toronto left behind

From her offices on Greene Avenue in Westmount, where her signs are almost part of the landscape, the Royal Lepage Héritage broker recalls that, as in the rest of the market, luxury real estate has experienced unparalleled increases in recent years.

In 2021 alone, the median price of a high-end home increased by an average of 16.9% in Montreal, 22.1% in the Laurentians, and 27.6% in Outaouais. In Quebec, we are talking about 8.1%.

“Currently, she points out, properties in the city center are displayed at prices above $2,000 per square foot. However, when we reach prices of $2,300 per square foot, as we are currently seeing, it is not Toronto that we have reached, but Paris! One day it will have to be done. »

“Puffed prices”

The latter does not dispute the situation. She only sees it, not without a dose of astonishment all the same.

“I am of the opinion that some of the inventory for sale is showing ‘blown prices’. People compare themselves and want to show a higher price than their neighbour. Often these price gougings are not justified in my opinion, leading to an imbalance in the markets. »