Condo segment boosts Montreal market's December sales

Last month was the busiest December since 2009

Condo segment boosts Montreal market's December sales
Residential property sales volume in Montreal last month went up by 10% on a year-over-year basis to 2,781 successful transactions, according to new data from the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board.

December 2017 marked the busiest for that month since 2009, the GMREB added. The Board noted that the increase was more noticeable on the island of Montreal, which saw the number of sales grow by 15%.

A surge in condo sales drove this growth, Postmedia reported. 610 condos were sold last December, an increase of 37% from the 444 sold during the same period the previous year.

Across the region, condo sales rose by 35% annually, up to 978 units sold during the month. This was the highest number of December condo sales on record, the Board said.

Read more: Quebec market will see record-setting sales numbers in 2018

The median price of a single-family home in the region was $305,000, up by 2% from December 2016. The median price of a condo stood at $265,000, an annual increase of 8% and representing the largest monthly increase in condo prices in almost 7 years, according to the GMREB.

The median price of a condo on Montreal Island went up by 9% per cent, up to $325,000.

The growing popularity of Montreal’s condos will encourage developers to build more condos, according to Paul Cardinal, manager of market analysis for the Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards.

“Now there’s a clear signal that demand is there and is strong, despite the new mortgage rules, despite the increase in mortgage rates,” Cardinal said. “Montreal’s employment market is on fire, we have an improvement in our net migration numbers and consumer confidence is at a 15-year high.”


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