This four-bedroom house in Rosedale sold recently – it was relisted in January after failing to garner interest in late 2014.
While real estate market observers are waiting to see if the wobbles in Calgary's real estate market rattle consumers in other Canadian cities, buyers in Toronto's high-priced Rosedale enclave seem anything but nervous.
"It's been quite a week in the neighbourhood," says real estate agent Linda Drope, who sold the three-storey mansion at 90 Roxborough St. E.
Ms. Drope describes the 100-year-old house, with more than 5,000 square feet of living space, as "a Rosedale landmark" at the corner of Roxborough and Chestnut Park.
The four-bedroom house, which had an asking price of $5.25-million, had been listed for sale in late 2014 without finding a buyer. After a hiatus over the holidays, the owners listed it again in January. Ms. Drope had cautioned the sellers that showings could be slow so early in the new year but the house sold within days.
"Literally it was the first week we were back on."
She also heard through the industry grapevine that two other sales of houses listed above $3.5-million took place in Rosedale and Moore Park the same week and a fourth was imminent.
"You can kind of feel the confidence and optimism of buyers."
The agent says more people seemed to be sitting on the sidelines during the fall. They may have had time to regroup over the holiday, she adds.
"Sometimes it's just time to move forward," she says. "I think January just brings a sense of renewal for people,."
She adds that other prospective house hunters have suggested they'd like to start looking soon.
"Surprisingly, I've heard from a number of buyers who had been quiet last fall and are now ready and raring to go this early in the season," Ms. Drope says. "We just need more listings."
Ms. Drope knows of two families looking for what she describes as big, landmark homes.
Agents who work in the luxury tier of the market had reported the segment above $4-million had been sluggish through the fall.
Ms. Drope hopes that the sales early in 2015 in Rosedale are harbingers of a strong spring.
Last weekend, between the Super Bowl and a major snowstorm that blasted the Greater Toronto Area, agents reported quiet afternoons at real estate open houses. One agent had only two people show up for an open house on Sunday.
Even so, it was a very busy January, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board, which reported Wednesday that sales surged by 6.1 per cent in January compared with the year earlier, prices were up 4.9 per cent and listings had jumped by 9.5 per cent.
By contrast, the Calgary Real Estate Board reported this week that new listings rose an eye-popping 40 per cent while sales tumbled 35 per cent. Prices have so far held steady.
While volatile energy prices have a more direct and immediate impact on the Alberta economy, professor John Andrew of Queen's University says the correlation between commodity prices and real estate prices across the country has been tight for the past several years.
Prof. Andrew, who is director of the executive seminars on corporate and investment real estate at Queen's, thinks the impact is partly psychological. As long as commodity prices have been robust and interest rates low, consumers have felt more confident in the strength of house prices, he surmises.
He worries that a downturn in Calgary could still spread to Vancouver, Toronto and other richly valued markets.
This week the condo market research firm Urbanation cautioned that sales of new condo units in Toronto will likely slow in 2015 compared with a strong 2014. The firm says the condo market has a high proportion of investors and those buyers tend to be influenced by the overall strength of the economy.
Carolyn Ireland