International Real Estate

by Shawn Lackie

I just finished reading an article on the thriving real estate market in Monaco. Yes, that would be the one on the southern coast of France. It's the second smallest country in the world behind Vatican City. As they say, though – small but mighty. Check out the prices of some of the homes there, and you’ll get a quick look at how the other half lives. Except, they would be more like the upper, upper, upper scale elites.

There are more millionaires AND billionaires living there than anywhere in the world. In fact, 40 percent of the population is in either one of these two segments. Scary indeed. They average between 400 and 500 home sales a year and there are over 160 licensed brokerages. For a country which is about 2 km squared, in size, roughly half the size of Central Park in New York, the average resident’s net worth is between 10M and 20M CDN. So, needless to say, the housing market there is something we wouldn’t be all that familiar with.

We spent nine days in the area, back in April, staying in Nice but took day trips to all the neighbouring areas. One of those was Monaco and, let me say, it was an eye opener, to say the least. I have this somewhat irritating habit (to some but not me) of stopping. on the walking tours. and looking at the listings posted in the windows of the local brokerages. This place was like no other. A year or so ago we were in Italy and I was doing the same thing, most times taking pictures of the listings to bring back and tell people we didn’t have it so bad here.

We talk about the housing crisis, on a daily basis, and it mostly revolves around the ultra expensive prices of the homes. Well, I can say, in Italy, England, Wales, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and France we are not as out of line as we like to think here. England was another eye opener as was Italy.

However, Monaco, that is a whole different game. The AVERAGE price per unit, in new developments in Monaco, was $55 Million dollars, CDN. Think on that for a minute or two, and these are not crazy huge places which are really unique. No, for that, you may have to tip into the 100s of millions. Or, if you feel really extravagant, you could drop more than $400 Million CDN on the five-floor Tour Odeon Sky Penthouse which has a beautiful view of the city and the water.

The thing is, in Canada and other parts of North America, we are blessed with space. We often take it for granted, but having looked at many of the real estate offerings in these other countries, space is at a premium, and, if you want it you’ll have to pay up. Next time, you'll see some listing which seems out of whack, price-wise, just give some thought to what others have to pay in other countries. I know it’s all relevant to the area but, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to think about, what if. If you want to live like James Bond, in a place like that, you had better be willing to pay up, big time.

Feel free to check out this story and more on my blog site, at https://slackie14.wixsite.com/buy-sell-and-more.