Sold, for $13.25M: Most expensive property recorded on MLS in Quebec

Royal LePage says one of its brokers sold this 20-room, stone-sided mansion, for $13.25 million. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

MONTREAL -- Royal LePage says one of its brokers has sold the most expensive property recorded on the Multiple Listing Service in Quebec -- a 20-room, stone-sided mansion that fetched $13.25 million.

The realtor says the house in the province's Eastern Townships, east of Montreal, is situated on a more than 2.5-hectare property, surrounded by lake and mountain views.

Royal LePage said the home was previously listed for $19.5 million. But media reports from 2013 and 2014 that show identical photos to those provided by Royal LePage say the home was on sale for $25 million.

The next-highest sale price in Quebec listed in MLS was $10.2 million for a home in Senneville, Que., said Dominic St-Pierre, Royal LePage's senior director for the Quebec region.

Alain Bedard, the president and CEO of transport and logistics company TransForce, decided to sell the home because he spends very little time there, according to his spokesman Rick Leckner.

The main residence has a geothermal energy system, a heated indoor pool, a home theatre, a gym, a ping pong room and a wine cellar and tasting room.

It also includes five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, three kitchens, five fireplaces and a library. There is a dressing room equipped with an elevator, a receptionist office and a mezzanine area.

Royal LePage says the grounds also include three guest homes, a private dock and an outdoor terrace area.

Marie-Yvonne Paint, a broker with Royal LePage Heritage, sold the property. The buyer was not disclosed.

St-Pierre says luxury home sales in the province have been outperforming the overall market for the past two years, something he attributes partly to confidence in the province's economy.

The other factor, says St-Pierre, is that high-end homes in Quebec are cheaper than those in Toronto and Vancouver.

"I was actually surprised when I learned that the house that just sold was the highest sale price in the MLS system," said St-Pierre. "I would have expected houses for $20 million plus being sold before."

The lower Canadian loonie is also luring an influx of foreign buyers, mainly from China, to Quebec's luxury market, but St-Pierre says the "vast majority" of homes over $1 million go to local buyers -- including the $13.25 million one sold by Paint.

"It's not like the majority of sales are to international buyers or anything like that," St-Pierre said.