Montreal home sales jump as condos post new record

Home sales in the Montreal CMA jumped 10% in December compared to a year earlier with 2,781 units sold through the Centris database.

It was a busy end to the year for members of the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board who saw the most active December since 2009 with four of the six main areas of the CMA recording increased sales.

Laval (+20%), the Island of Montréal (+15%) and the South Shore (10%) posted the strongest gains with a modest 5% rise for Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. The North Shore and Vaudreuil-Soulanges had lower sales than a year earlier with declines of 4% and 10% respectively.

Sales of condos jumped 35% to set a new December sales record of 978. Sales of plexes were up 5% while single-family homes dipped 1%.

“The condominium segment just registered its largest monthly price increase in almost seven years,” said Mathieu Cousineau, President of the GMREB Board of Directors. “The number of months of inventory has been falling steadily for two years now, and this is increasingly reflected by an upward pressure on prices. Many areas are even in a seller’s market for condominiums.”

Median prices were: $305,000 for single-family homes (up 2% year-over-year); $484,000 for plexes (+3%); $265,000 for condo (+8%).

Inventory remained subdued with a 9% drop year-over-year to 24,520. It was the CMA’s 27th consecutive decline in supply.

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