(L’Île-Des-Sœurs) The real estate market in Quebec is regaining strength. Residential sales increased by 12% in the province in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year, the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) said in a press release Friday.
There were a total of 26,166 residential sales in Quebec for the period covering the months of April, May and June.
These figures are based on provincial data from Centris.
“This is a level of transactional activity above the average recorded for this period of the year since the data was compiled by Centris in 2000,” the press release states.
The median price of properties increased for the same period, indicates the APCIQ, rising by 10% for small income properties, to $603,500, and by 5% for single-family homes, to $452,500, compared to the same period in 2023.
The median price of condominiums increased more modestly by 3%, to $379,000.
Residential sales in Montreal totaled 13,053 in the second quarter, up 11% from 2023. In Quebec City, 2,612 residences changed owners, a jump of 8%.
Drummondville is the census metropolitan area that had the largest increase in the number of residential sales at 19%.
“The momentum of the real estate market observed in the first quarter continued in most regions of Quebec with an increase in sales and prices in the second quarter,” said Charles Brant, Director of Market Analysis at the QPAREB.
Although the lack of properties on the market continues to be observed in several sectors of the Montreal region, it is especially in the Quebec region that it is proving problematic, generating new price peaks, all categories combined.
Charles Brant, Director of Market Analysis Services at the APCIQ
In the provincial capital, the median price for a condominium increased by 16% to $270,000, the median price of small income properties by 15% to $450,000 and that of single-family homes by 12% to $380,000 between the second quarter of 2023 and that of 2024.
The Bank of Canada announced in June the first cut in its key interest rate since March 2020, causing mortgage rates to fall.
“The peak season may have disappointed many buyers who were anticipating a combination of rising home inventory and the first cut in the key interest rate in four years,” Brant wrote.
“In reality, only those looking for property in recreational markets benefited from more choice.”
In these markets, particularly in Estrie, the Laurentians and Lanaudière, properties sold less quickly, says Mr. Brant.