Carolyn Ireland – Globe and Mail

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]t a time when pundits are watching for signs that Toronto’s housing market is cooling down, Ross McCredie is gearing up.

The chief executive officer of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada is adding a second Toronto office and new agents are signing on.

Mr. McCredie is sanguine about the top tier of the market, where Sotheby’s agents already glide between polished marble foyers.

Mr. McCredie was first drawn to Toronto by the opportunity to attach the Sotheby’s banner to condominium units in the Four Seasons Private Residences currently under construction in Yorkville.

The largest units were the quickest to sell – at prices as high as $1,500 to $1,800 a square foot, he says.

That venture went so well, and he has such high hopes for more such lucrative deals, Mr. McCredie says, that he has brought about 25 new agents onboard and expects to add another 25.

He points to the injection of capital from overseas, the line-up of five-star condo towers nearing completion, and a projection by Deloitte Services LP that the number of millionaire households in Canada will swell by 38% in 2020 from the 2011 tally.

A lot of attention is focused on investors based in China, he says, but other factors are at play too: The huge transfer of wealth from aging parents to their baby boomer offspring and the expectation that more homeowners in tony neighbourhoods such as Rosedale and Forest Hill will downsize and move into those Four Seasons condos.

“There’s a lifestyle change going on.”

There are a lot of Canadians with money and a lot of successful ex-pats are returning. They are the ones buying in Whistler, he points out.

And for those who don’t choose the Four Seasons, there are plenty of other ensuite dressing rooms being readied for the unpacking of Tom Ford moccasins and Christian Louboutin heels. The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, Trump Tower, and Shangri-La are ready for occupancy or nearly so. Toronto has more condos coming on-stream than any other city in North America.

Oh and then there are the vacation properties in Florida or California that these buyers will be able to escape to when they are ensconced in their new turn-key lifestyles. Mr. McCredie wants Sotheby’s to help with the purchase of those too.

Mr. McCredie is not put off in the least by agents who say the high end of the market is slow – has been for months. Some say buyers in the upper echelons are wary amid all the turbulence in global financial markets. As for high-priced houses for sale in Rosedale that may go weeks without a showing, Mr. McCredie characterizes that as a perennial lament that can be explained by seasonal doldrums.

“Everything starts firing up in the spring again,” he says.

If there is a segment he worries about, it’s the mid-range condo market in Toronto. Those buyers, he cautions, are the most likely to be hurt if interest rates rise.

“I don’t see fire sales happening in Rosedale; I don’t see anything happening in Forest Hill.”

Those areas, along with traditional bastions like Westmount in Montreal or Shaugnessy in Vancouver, tend to fare better because homeowners are mostly well-established.

“Those are the markets that will hold up.”

He also travels the world and, in the past two years, the fervour of people who want to talk about investing in real estate here has only intensified.

“Canada is absolutely the darling of international markets now.”

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Contact Laurin Jeffrey for more information – 416-388-1960

Laurin Jeffrey is a Toronto Realtor with Century 21 Regal Realty. He did not
write these articles, he just reproduces them here for people who are
interested in Toronto real estate. He does not work for any builders.
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