Significant regional disparities prevail, however
New condo sales activity nationwide entered a period of relative slowdown last year, mainly due to a significant slowdown in the GTA market, according to the latest Altus Group Housing Report.
Overall condo apartment sales clocked in at a little over 48,500 units last year, which represented a massive 21% decline from the nearly 62,000 transactions in 2017.
GTA’s condo sector accounted for a significant portion of the losses, falling by 38% annually to end up at approximately 21,400 sales. However, the market still accounted for almost half of all deals in the jurisdictions covered by the Altus analysis, including other major Ontario locales in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region.
Meanwhile, condo market deceleration in Vancouver has eased, from a drastic 31% year-over-year drop in 2017 to just a 7% decline in 2018.
On the flip side, Montreal has posted its third consecutive year of growth in new condo apartment sales, at 19% annually in 2018 to reach the city’s highest number of transactions involving the property type (around 8,100 deals) to date.
In fact, just about every asset class in Montreal has seen consistent good performances over the past few quarters.
According to the municipal government, the real estate boom has helped the city reach a budget surplus of $212.7 million last year – amounting to approximately $130 per resident, and marking the second highest registered since 2012.
“[The] real estate market is very, very, very good for Montrealers,” according to Montreal executive committee chair Benoit Dorais, in an interview with CBC News.
Dorais added that almost half of the surplus was comprised of welcome tax revenues on new property purchases.
