Sutton Group CEO Ross McCredie with Douglas Elliman CEO Michael Liebowitz (courtesy: David Clifford Photography).
American luxury real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman is marching north of the border with a familiar face in the Canadian high-end market, Ross McCredie.
New York-based Douglas Elliman announced Thursday its plans to expand with a new banner, Elliman Canada. It’s part of a global push for the 115-year-old company, led by CEO Michael Liebowitz, which recently started operating in France, Monaco and St. Barths.
McCredie is the CEO of Sutton Group, a role he started in 2023. He told Real Estate Magazine he acquired the Douglas Elliman brand rights for Canada, a play that echoes his 2004 move to bring the Sotheby’s International Realty brand to Canada.
His initial focus is launching in three cities: Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, where he is based. He said he’ll look at acquiring a luxury brokerage in those cities or building offices from the ground up.
McCredie said the deal, which was made official this week at a firm gathering on the slopes in Aspen, Colorado, happened quickly. The seed being planted at the end of 2025 during a friendly meetup in New York with former associates from his Sotheby’s days who are now members of the Douglas Elliman executive ranks, Wendy Purvey and Rich Green.
“The more I got to see what they were doing, the more I got excited,” he said.
Canada–US referrals
Another element of the agreement is a referral program linking Douglas Elliman with Sutton’s 6,000 agents across Canada.
“I’ve had five agents reach out since the announcement from Florida to say ‘We’ve got clients who want to buy in Toronto,’” McCredie said. “So it’s already happening.”
He noted many of the buyers Douglas Elliman sees in Miami are from Toronto and Montreal, for example.
“As one of the largest inbound referral markets for U.S. real estate, Canada represents a significant and timely opportunity for Elliman and our agents,” said Liebowitz in a statement.
Return to luxury
McCredie said he was drawn to the opportunity to tidy up his “unfinished business” in the luxury space.
His approach with Elliman Canada will be measured, with market share – not agent count – being his priority, with locations likely to top out at half a dozen or so, said McCredie.
McCredie said that while transaction volumes are trending down in Canada, the ultraluxury market is somewhat insulated by the status of the people trading these assets. The super wealthy often prioritize timing over anything else, he said, and interest rates aren’t a factor. Because of this, the luxury market has remained steadier than some other housing segments.
“Most agents who work in that space have been really busy the last 15, 18 years,” he said. “There’s actually a fair amount of wealth in Canada. We’re a little more discreet about it.
The announcement came a week after the news of Toronto-based myAbode Inc.’s strategic investment in Sutton Group, bringing together a combined network of more than 12,000 agents on a single platform.
Last year, McCredie outlined an ambitious growth strategy for Sutton, including planned technology acquisitions, major brokerage conversions in the 2026 launch of Sutton Wealth, a data platform designed to give homeowners access to institutional-grade property information.
Courtney Zwicker is a digital reporter and associate editor for REM. Based in Atlantic Canada, she has over a decade of experience covering daily business news.
Really, Canadians are buying in Florida?