The $1M house next door

Magrath

The $1M house next door
2 i6 {2 M8 g9 T. ~' tSeven figures doesn't go as far as it used to
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Jamie Hall
The Edmonton Journal
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/ {: K! E8 v$ sTuesday, May 22, 2007

( Z0 e  Q, U" ^0 aEDMONTON - There are million-dollar homes in Edmonton, and then there are million-dollar homes. In today's red-hot real estate market, one bears little resemblance to the other.

0 Z6 k1 X* O0 ]1 D5 C"Five years ago a million-dollar home was truly a million-dollar home, as we would all picture," says Sally Munro, a longtime Edmonton realtor who specializes in high-end properties. Today, we're seeing homes for a million dollars on normal lots; there's nothing extraordinary about them.

) g! C4 A! {; w! i0 N"People need places to live -- it's all fuelled by supply and demand."
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, J! Z2 v: O. r$ U4 bIndeed, the same $1 million that in 2002 bought a veritable mansion in tony neighbourhoods like Glenora might buy a bungalow or a split-level today.

% u- f3 v; k7 n: |! L+ K) Y0 n8 lThere are million-dollar houses for sale in almost every quadrant of the city -- some comparatively ordinary houses commanding extraordinary prices.

In Edmonton, sales of homes priced from $950,000 and up increased significantly during the first quarter of this year, according to data compiled by Royal LePage from various real estate sources. From January to March, the number of unit sales in this price range increased by 71 per cent over the same months of 2006.

. R1 [. U: |% Z5 Q% H! k5 wRoyal LePage says its data also suggests that purchasers in the luxury real-estate market are typically 35 to 45 years old with young families, and have achieved their wealth through their professional careers, as well as inheritances.

% N2 J" h' ?/ c; j; x9 AMunro's fellow realtor Abe Hering says the idea of one million dollars buying a "palace that you're going to get lost in" is now just a fairy tale.
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# ]) t& ]! C, b"There's this illusion about what a million-dollar property is today," says Hering, who has sold real estate in Edmonton for 30 years.

! x+ |2 h8 t0 d: K! ~6 x* a"The cost replacement has gone up significantly and the land value has gone up significantly."

" g" r+ n: O) d+ b+ S+ h7 n/ jSince 2000, 54 pre-owned properties on the Multiple Listing Service have sold for $1 million or more. Seventeen of those moved in 2006; nine sold in the first three months of this year.

9 b3 M0 g' u0 p$ {; b( |1 ALuxurious condos are also commanding top dollar.

9 m& P; Z- p/ P' T) DAccording to John Hall of the Realtor's Association of Edmonton, some of the penthouse units at the Icon tower in downtown Edmonton, which is still under construction, have already been sold for a million.
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$ v) F5 Y5 I7 ]8 ?/ B4 E# T/ F  hCurrently, there are about 55 million-dollar-plus properties listed on Edmonton's Multiple Listing Service; the most expensive is a 3,000-plus-square- foot two-storey home in the river valley with an asking price of $4 million.

That's still a small percentage of the market, says Munro, especially when you compare it to cities such as Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary, where 133 million-dollar homes have sold this year already.

"And, the question is: How fast are (homes in Edmonton) selling?" she says.
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"They're not selling as fast as people think they are."

$ @, |" H4 c  |One of the reasons, she says, is that the people who can afford to spend a million will spend more for the right product. And, she says, if they can't find it, they'll build it.

% g( D/ R2 u1 RThose would be the Bruce Savilles and Daryl Katzes of the world, who reside in palatial homes which cost millions to build and whose replacement value is inestimable.

. C( ]. F% F) A$ E"It's like trying to put a value on the Mona Lisa," says Hall, who wouldn't even hazard a guess at their current value.

"Properties like that are one of a kind."
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jhall@thejournal.canwest.com

. j' O2 B% U9 {. Y6 ZMARKET MADNESS
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) N! G8 O- Q0 C5 U1 S% t8 yGo to www. edmontonjournal.com to see past stories, photo galleries and your chance to Sound Off:
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: c3 {* \: ?0 a3 x' I- FRIDAY. How did this happen? Where will it end?
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- SATURDAY. Allendale, a neighbourhood in transition

/ P' o. Z4 T$ ^- SUNDAY: Homeless and hopeless: The trickle-down effect of the housing squeeze
  c3 `! P; U* y% f- o% k
- MONDAY. Where do we grow from here?

' Z* ^; C. X; o$ Y$ \/ N8 p- TODAY. Edmonton's million-dollar babies.
© The Edmonton Journal 2007

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