Vacation properties set for another strong year

There was an 11 per cent rise in the resale of vacation properties in Quebec in 2016 and the market is set to remain strong this year.

The Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards says that vacation property sales were especially strong in the rural areas of the Capitale-Nationale, Estrie, Lanaudière, Laurentides, Montérégie and Outaouais administrative regions.

"2016 was a prolific year for the vacation property market," said Paul Cardinal, Manager of the Market Analysis Department at the Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards. "While residential sales across the province grew by 5 per cent, sales of vacation properties increased by 11 per cent. This market segment should continue to grow in 2017, but at a slower pace than the previous two years. We are forecasting sales growth of around 5 per cent for vacation properties.”

Single-family vacation properties saw the largest growth in 2016, up 13 per cent to 3,024 homes; vacation condos slipped 3 per cent to 411 units. Prices were higher for vacation properties than for conventional sales. In Montérégie the average difference was 78 per cent.

High-end vacation homes were in demand with sales of single-family homes over $500,000 increasing 28 per cent year-over-year while for those under $500,000 the increase was 12 per cent.

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