Residential resale | Always seller friendly

The number of transactions is plummeting, but the residential resale market remains favorable to sellers in the Montreal area, according to November statistics, released Monday.

“Market conditions continue to favor sellers. This is particularly the case for properties offering good value for money, which are always actively sought after by motivated buyers. These are still few in number and negotiable at the posted price in a context where there are fewer buyers for the same property. This results in some price resistance,” says Charles Brant, director of the market analysis department of the Professional Association of Quebec Real Estate Brokers (APCIQ).

In the city center, the market has rebalanced. There are now 9 sellers per buyer. In the Montreal area market as a whole, the ratio is 4. The lower it is, the more sellers are favoured.

Mr. Brant expects the ratio to gradually rise in 2023. “You don’t see a lot of new listings. It is even at a lower level than last year, ”said the economist, in a telephone interview.

This means that active listings (up 58% in one year) are mainly made up of high-priced properties that have been on the market for several months and cannot find takers.

The most recent residential real estate market statistics for the census metropolitan area (CMA) of Montreal are based on the provincial Centris database of real estate brokers.

Drop of nearly 40% in resales

2,716 properties were sold in November in the Montreal area, a drop of 38% in one year. You have to go back to 2014 to find such a peaceful month of November.

For the first 11 months of the year, the decline in transactions reached 21%, with a sharp decline since the spring, a period that coincides with the rise in mortgage rates. Plexes (buildings with 2 to 5 units) are even more affected with a 30% decrease in resales in 2022 compared to the period from January to November 2021.

Last month, the median price of a house rose to $520,000 in the Montreal area. It was $525,000 a year earlier, down 1%.