![\"toronto](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/toronto-vancouver-luxury-real-estate.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: <\/span><\/i>Prayitno\/Flickr<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\nToronto led Canada in sales of homes over $1 million in the first half of 2016, and according to Sotheby\u2019s International Realty Canada, it will continue to do so in the fall. But on the other side of the country in Vancouver, sales of homes in that price range are expected to moderate. <\/span><\/p>\n In a September 14th <\/span>press release<\/span><\/a>, the brokerage explains that Toronto and Vancouver both experienced large year-over-year increases in $1-million-plus home sales in the first six months of the year \u2014\u00a035 and 26 per cent, respectively. However,\u00a0during the summer months sales of homes above $1 million were markedly different in the two cities. <\/span><\/p>\n Notably, sales of single-family homes over $1 million in Toronto rose 55 per cent year-over-year in July and August, while sales of condos over $1 million jumped 86 per cent. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, sales of $1-million-plus single-family homes fell 30 per cent in July and 65 per cent in August. And though Vancouver sales of condos above $1 million jumped 29 per cent in July, they dropped 49 per cent the next month. <\/span><\/p>\n Sotheby\u2019s expects that divergence to continue, and believes Metro Vancouver\u2019s recently introduced 15 per cent foreign buyers tax<\/a> will be behind it. Although the firm notes that it\u2019s too early to guess what the tax\u2019s long-term impact on Vancouver’s luxury homes market will be, it does see it \u201cmoderat[ing] sales activity and velocity in the fall.\u201d Sotheby\u2019s also believes that it may redirect international investors\u2019 interest to Toronto during that time, though \u201cstrong local market fundamentals and consumer confidence\u201d will also drive luxury home sales in that city. <\/span><\/p>\n Those predictions echo other recent comments about the overall Toronto and Vancouver housing markets. TD economists <\/span>recently said<\/span><\/a> that the two markets \u201care likely to head into 2017 on different trajectories\u201d \u2014 Toronto up and Vancouver flat \u2014 and a senior BMO economist <\/span>has suggested<\/span><\/a> that Toronto could soon be Canadian real estate\u2019s \u201cunquestioned leader.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n