QOAREB's latest figures shed some light
Montreal saw its largest annual decline (38%) in November home sales since 2014, according to the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers.
The market saw a total of 2,716 residential sales during the month, which also represented the largest recorded drop since collection of Centris data began, QPAREB said.
This substantial decrease was a reflection of the unprecedented speed of interest rate hikes this year, said Charles Brant, director of market analysis at QPAREB.
“This transactional level, which is among the lowest levels recorded by the Centris system, continues to result in a backlog of active listings in the Montreal CMA market,” Brant said. “Nevertheless, in November, the number of new listings is trending downward again, indicating that potential sellers are not rushing to sell their properties, or are not yet feeling compelled to do so.”
Market conditions favouring sellers
The number of active listings went up by 58% annually to reach 16,397 units in November 2022, drawing ever closer to pre-pandemic levels.
Taking this into account, Montreal is firmly in seller’s market territory, Brant said.
“This is particularly true for properties offering good value for their price, which are still actively sought after by keen buyers,” Brant said. “These properties are still few and far between and can be negotiated at their posted price in a context where there are fewer buyers for a given property. The result is a certain resistance in prices.”
Median prices also remained stable on a year-over-year basis, with single-family homes and plexes each seeing a mere 1% decline ($520,000 and $715,000, respectively) and condominiums experiencing a 2% increase ($380,000).
