Despite signs of a slowdown, housing market prices will finally have continued to grow significantly in 2022, forcing buyers to pay ever more to hope to become homeowners in Quebec.
• Read also: Residential market: new drop in sales in Montreal
• Read also: Two home sales shattered records in 2022
According to the latest data from the Association professionnelle des courtiers immobiliers du Québec (APCIQ), the median price of single-family homes has jumped 14% in twelve months to exceed $415,000. That of condominiums increased by 12%, reaching $366,000.
“The price declines caused by the successive increases in the key rate in 2022 have not been felt everywhere with the same intensity, recognizes Charles Brant, director of the APCIQ’s market analysis service. The Montreal region was hit first. But others will surely follow; We expect a very different outcome in 2023.”
The North Shore stands out
In Quebec, it is in the Basses-Laurentides, the vast North Shore of Montreal and Laval, that prices have experienced the most marked increases. In fact, the median price of a single-family residence has increased by 16% in 2022. In a single year, it has gone from $422,500 to $490,000.
And the good value that condos in this same region have experienced is even more impressive. On the North Shore, we are talking about an increase of 22%! The median price of a condominium went from $275,000 to $335,000, an increase of $60,000.
These data are the result of a year that will have unfolded in two periods and will have been marked by the continuation of the real estate overheating of recent years. Starting in April, the markets cooled and prices rebalanced. At the end of December, Desjardins estimated the drop in property prices in the province at 6.4%.
But, it’s calming down in Montreal
The island of Montreal, hitherto strongly influenced by overbidding, is the market that has seen the weakest price growth in 2022. The median price of a single-family home there was $723,000 (only 2% more than in 2021) and that of the condo, of $445,000, an increase of 6%.
More stable, despite market conditions that are also tending to tighten, the Québec City region experienced price variations closer to the average. House and condo prices have both increased by 10% in the past year.
For the time being, everywhere in Quebec, the market remains in favor of sellers. This despite a rise in inventory and a significant drop in transactions.
In December, according to Terram, residential mortgage applications were down 45% compared to 2021. An upcoming hike in the key rate could exacerbate this trend. If the latter continues, the APCIQ expects prices to fall by 5% on average in 2023.
* Median price
**The most recent data for the Gatineau, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières and Saguenay regions exclude data for the fourth quarter of 2022. They correspond to the median price for the previous 12 months, as recorded on September 30, 2022.