Photo: Seb [ P34K ] Hamel/Unsplash
For four-and-a-half years, Montreal’s housing market has been on a tear, and it showed no signs of stopping in August.
Some 3,527 homes changed hands across the Montreal census metro area last month, an increase of 10 percent compared to the same time a year ago.
It was the 54th consecutive month that the market had shown year-over-year growth in terms of sales.
“The exceptional strength of Montreal’s real estate market in August is consistent with the robust sales results that we’ve been seeing since the start of the year,” says Nathalie Bégin, president of the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers’ board of directors, in a statement.
“Several outlying areas of the Montreal CMA are leading the way in terms of sales, and they’re also registering substantial increases in the median price of residential properties,” the president of the board, which presents the sales data monthly, continues.
The median price of a single-family home in the Montreal area $345,000 in August, up 4 percent annually, compared to plexes, which reached a median selling price of $532,500, having increased 3 percent in 12 months.
The strongest gains were in the condo segment: the median price of a condo climbed 7 percent on a year-over-year basis to a median price of $279,000.
“A rebalancing is taking place in relation to the considerable increases that have been observed on the Island of Montreal since 2018,” Bégin adds, noting the shift to faster rates of price growth occurring in less central locations.
Montreal is one piece of a provincial housing market that is set for a record-breaking year, a Desjardins report published late last month suggests.
“The existing home market continues to soar in Quebec,” writes Hélène Bégin, senior economist with Desjardins.
“The number of property sales will increase about 5% this year, setting a new record. The average price in the province will surpass the $320,000 mark, a hike of more than 4% for the third year in a row,” Bégin adds.
