Waterfront home in Vancouver lists for $66m

TORONTO • A waterfront mansion on a Vancouver street known as Billionaires' Row is on the market for C$63 million (S$66 million) - a record listing in a market where rapid home-price gains are seemingly unstoppable.

Perched above a popular beach, the manor features expansive views of downtown Vancouver and snow-capped mountains across the bay. It is owned by local business titan Joseph Segal and his wife Rosalie, who are well known as philanthropists in the city.

The asking price is the highest ever for a residential single-family home listed in Greater Vancouver, according to Sotheby's International Realty Canada, which represents the sellers.

"Why do people sell? Because they have a change of life," Mr Segal, the 92-year-old president of Kingswood Capital, said. "Life is a runway. I'm finished cruising and now I'm descending."

The lofty price tag underscores the ever-escalating home values in Canada's most expensive city, which has defied a succession of government efforts to cool gains, as well as concerns about the near-collapse of alternative-mortgage lender Home Capital Group.

The price of the average detached house in Vancouver climbed 5 per cent to a record C$1.8 million in May, while the number of properties sold was the third-highest ever for that month.

Ms Christa Frosch, Sotheby's listing agent, declined to say how long it might take to find a buyer. But a 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers introduced last August, that would add more than C$9 million to the listed price, is unlikely to dissuade any deep-pocketed overseas investors who would consider the property, she said.

"This is a very unique property - there are not very many people in the world who would be looking at this," she said. "They will love and understand its value."

The five-bedroom, 12- bathroom residence boasts more than 21,000 sq ft of living space on a 0.5ha lot, according to Sotheby's. The house features gallery halls that can seat up to 100 guests, a six-car garage, an indoor pool surrounded by arches and a double-height foyer lined with paintings.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 24, 2017, with the headline Waterfront home in Vancouver lists for $66m. Subscribe