By Allison Lampert and Omar Mouallem
MONTREAL/EDMONTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Foreign investors are
snapping up ski chalets and commercial properties in Canada as a
drop in the nation's sagging currency in the past two years
means their money buys much more.
The bargains are especially attractive in Alberta's resort
country, where home prices in the energy heartland have fallen
with the price of oil, adding to the 25 percent drop in the
value of the Canadian dollar since 2013.
"Canada is absolutely gorgeous, but I'm on more of a time
schedule because the dollar is so bad," said Dave Smith, who
owns a New York information-technology business and is looking
for an Alberta property. "It's crazy not to invest in it now
because it's just a matter of time before it bounces back."
While local buyers have disappeared, realtors in the
picturesque Alberta mountain cities of Canmore and Banff hope
foreign interest can counter the slump in the province, where
the unemployment rate has climbed to its highest level since
2010.
"Things dried up significantly until about six months ago,
when the dollar started turning," said Christian Dubois of
Sotheby's International Realty. "In fairly strong numbers, we're
starting to see inquiries coming again."
Dubois said the biggest uptick in interest was from the
United States and Britain, returning demand to levels he had not
seen since the mid-2000s.
Wealthy foreigners are also buying in the ski country in
neighboring British Columbia, where Asian money is often
credited with buoying the Vancouver housing market.
Commercial real estate is benefiting as well, with some
investors seeing Canadian properties as an attractive
alternative to low bond yields and tumultuous equity markets.
Foreign investment in commercial properties in Toronto hit
its highest level last year since 2007 at almost C$1.1 billion
($774.59 million), according to RealNetCanada Inc data. Of the
39 deals worth C$1 million or more, 90 percent occurred in the
second half of the year, when the currency's decline sped up.
Vancouver is hot as well. European billionaire Klaus-Michael
Kuehne is about to acquire the Royal Centre office building for
about C$420 million from Brookfield Canada Office Properties
BOX_u.TO , a source familiar with the deal said.
This would be the highest price ever paid for such a
property there, industry data shows.
Kuehne's representatives and a Brookfield spokesman declined
to comment.
To be sure, some U.S buyers are treading cautiously after
snapping up vacation properties in the early 2000s, when the
Canadian dollar hit record lows, only to be forced to sell when
the global financial crisis hit.
North of Toronto, where the rich and famous have often
boasted the biggest cottages on the best Muskoka lakes, the
discounted Canadian dollar also offers another way for U.S.
visitors to take advantage: by building up.
"The Americans that own in Muskoka right now are doing
massive renovations - complete tear-downs or rebuilds," said
real estate agent and builder Bob Clarke. "And that's based on
the dollar."
($1 = 1.4201 Canadian dollars)
(With additional reporting by Andrea Hopkins and Matt Scuffham
in Toronto, Julie Gordon in Vancouver and Richard Woodbury in
Halifax; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)