In many cities in Ontario and B.C., more than half the homes for sale are listed for more than $1 million.
That’s according to a recent Point2Homes.com analysis of February real estate listings in Canada’s 70 largest cities and towns. The report from the online real estate marketplace company found that 15 cities in Canada had 50 per cent of list prices at more than $1 million, based on active listings on Realtor.ca as of Feb. 19.
All of them were in Ontario and B.C., home to Canada’s hottest housing markets, and most of the 15 locations had benchmark prices that surpassed $1 million.
Delta, B.C. boasted the highest proportion of listings over the million dollar mark, with 80.5 per cent of homes for sale surpassing $1 million. While Delta had fewer listings over $1 million in total (244 out of a total of 303 current listings), the portion of million dollar listings edged out Vancouver, where 70.5 per cent of listings were more than 1 million (1,924 out of 2,730 total).
Those markets are followed by Oakville, Ont., with 69.1 per cent of listings topping $1 million (471 out of 682). Richmond Hill, Ont. had 63.5 per cent of total listings priced at more than $1 million (273 out of 430), followed by Richmond, B.C., where 63.2 per cent of homes were listed for more than $1 million (621 out of 983).
Of the 70 cities analyzed in the report, St. John’s, Nfld. had the lowest percentage of million-dollar listings, with just 1.5 per cent of homes crossing the $1 million mark (5 out of 337). Saguenay, Que. and Red Deer, Alta. had just 1.8 per cent (7 out of 387) and 2 per cent (5 out of 247) of listings priced at more than $1 million, respectively.
While Toronto, Ont. had the highest total number of listings over $1 million (2,038 out of 5,420), those listings accounted for 37.6 per cent of total listings in the country’s largest city. In Montreal, 21.9 per cent of the listings were above $1 million (1,539 out of 7,015.)
A separate survey from Royal LePage released last month found that two-thirds of Canadians (64 per cent) believe that $1 million in today’s real estate market is a reasonable budget to afford a home to meet their household needs. Another 22 per cent said they believe a million dollars is “not enough”, while 14 per cent of respondents said they did not know or preferred not to answer. The number of respondents who believe a million dollars is “not enough” was unsurprisingly higher in Ontario (31 per cent) and B.C. (45 per cent).
Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.
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