Home sales in Montreal fell 17% in April, compared to the same month last year, making it the least active April the market has seen since 2017, the report said on Wednesday. Professional Association of Quebec Real Estate Brokers (APCIQ).
Posted at 4:33 p.m.
According to the group, a total of 5,124 properties changed hands in the Montreal area last month, compared to 6,164 in April 2021.
According to the director of the APCIQ’s market analysis service, Charles Brant, the return to the most moderate level of activity in the last five years “suggests a significant slowdown” after months of difficult.
The northern sectors of the metropolitan area recorded larger annual declines. Sales fell by 21% in Laval and by 20% on the North Shore, while they fell by 17% on the island of Montreal. The slowdown was less pronounced in the southern sectors, however, and sales fell 14% in Vaudreuil-Soulanges and the South Shore, while they fell 10% in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
The slowdown is particularly obvious in the single-family home category, where you have to go back to 2014 to find comparable data for the month of April. However, 2014 was one of the least active years of the last 20 years.
“If this situation is essentially explained by a lack of single-family homes available on the market, we must face the facts, the price level is crowding out a good part of the potential buyers for this category of properties,” observed Mr. Bran.
“The most determined buyers who are not being intimidated by market conditions are falling back massively and more quickly than ever on the more affordable condominiums,” he added, noting that the prospects for higher interest rates interest could also convince some buyers to act more quickly.
All housing categories recorded decreases in activity. Sales of buildings with two to five units fell by 19%, those of single-family homes fell by 17% and those of condominiums, by 16%.
Despite the drop in sales, the APCIQ pointed out that median prices for single-family homes rose 16% year-on-year to reach $580,000. This is even up from March 2022, when prices hit $566,000. The median price of a condominium has increased by 15% year over year to reach $410,000.
The median price of plexes rose 14% to $780,000.
A market still favorable to sellers
New listings for sale for the month of April fell to 6,300, which was down 10% from 7,027 new listings in April last year. The number of active listings, however, increased for a fourth consecutive month, reaching 10,454 in the region. According to the APCIQ, such a sequence of increases had not been observed since 2013.
“Despite the recent increase in supply, it remains at a historically low level, so even with the decrease in demand in recent months, Montreal market conditions still indicate a largely favorable seller’s market,” said for his part estimated the economist Daren King, of the Financière Banque Nationale.
“Although the moderation on the Montreal residential market has been under way for a few months now, recent data for the Vancouver and Toronto markets suggest that it should continue in the coming months due in particular to the sharp increase in prices which has significantly deteriorated affordability since the onset of the pandemic and the recent rise in mortgage interest rates which is beginning to be felt. »