City’s priciest home will set you back $11 million

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/02/2016 (3541 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you’re in the market for some fancy new digs, you’re in luck.

Point2Homes.com, a Saskatoon-based real estate listings website, has compiled a list of the 19 most expensive homes for sale in the Winnipeg area.

They include 15 homes in Winnipeg and another four in bedroom communities just outside the city.

For those of you with pockets that are deep, but not really, really deep, there’s No. 15 on the list — a 3,200-square-foot, five-bedroom, lakeside home on Highland Creek Road South in Bridgwater Forest that’s listed for $1,228,000.

And for those of you who with bottomless pockets, there’s No. 1 on the list — a sprawling 18,000-square-foot-plus “art deco, European-gated estate” at 1063 Wellington Cres. listed at the princely sum of $11 million.

And if neither of those tickles your fancy, there’s a 6,000-square-foot five-bedroom home on swanky Hansard Boulevard that’s priced at $2,890,000, and 16 others priced between $1,295,000 and $1,999,999.

In case you’re wondering, that $11-million Wellington Crescent mansion has been on the market since last summer. As noted in a Free Press article that appeared at the time, it’s the largest and most expensive home ever listed on the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

“We’ve had expensive listings before, but never anything of this magnitude,” said Peter Squire, residential market analyst for the Winnipeg Realtors Association. “This takes it to a whole new level.”

Re/Max Performance Realty’s Glen Sytnyk, who is the listing agent for the $11-million home, said in an interview Friday the owner has received one offer since the home hit the market. It was rejected.

But the owner realizes it’s going to take time to find a buyer.

“He’s not disappointed at all (in the response so far). They’re getting calls. And there’s no urgency to sell. No pressure at all.”

He said a challenge is people who are willing to spend that much money often prefer to have one custom-built for them, rather than buy an existing one. But he also estimated that with the rising cost of new construction, it would cost a lot more than $11 million to build a home like that today.

Sytnyk said demand for luxury homes seems to be holding up pretty well. Particularly for ones priced between one and two million dollars.

He said he personally has two local clients who are looking for homes in that price range.

“So there is a market for that. There really is.”

But the strongest demand is still for homes in the $250,000-to-$450,000 range Sytnyk added. He said he was even contacted recently by a couple from North Carolina who are looking to take advantage of the high-valued U.S. dollar and buy a home here in the $450,000-to-$500,000 price range.

“They are simply going to buy it… as an investment because of the exchange rate. They have family here, so they’ll use it (when they visit the city), but a lot of it is speculating and taking advantage of the good dollar,” he said.

“That’s the first client I’ve had actually call me and say that,” he added, “but I’m sure there might be other Americans thinking that way.”

Not surprisingly, the homes on the Point2Homes.com list include four on Wellington Crescent — one of them a condominium at One Wellington Crescent. There are also a couple in Tuxedo and two on Waterstone Drive in South Pointe. Others are on streets such as River Road, Burnley Place, Eastoak Drive, Halparin Drive, Lake Bend Road and Zachary Drive.

The ones outside the city include two homes in St. Andrews and one each in Headingley and the Rural Municipality of Springfield.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca