Condos impel the sustained strength of Montreal's residential segment

February 2018 represented the 36th straight monthly increase in the city's home sales figures

Condos impel the sustained strength of Montreal's residential segment

In its latest data release, the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board (GMREB) revealed that healthy activity in the city’s condominium segment has played a large role in the respectable 5% year-over-year growth in the metropolitan market’s sales activity last month.

February 2018 – which saw a total of 4,081 residential sales – represented the 36th consecutive monthly increase in Montreal’s home sales numbers, as well as the best February since 2012.

Sales of condo units markedly went up by 14% last month, while single-family homes and plexes (2 to 5 dwellings) had small increases of 1% and 3%, respectively.

Five of the six main areas of the Montreal CMA posted sales increases in February, apart from Laval (which suffered a 3% decline). Vaudreuil-Soulanges showed strongly with 21% growth.

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The number of active residential listings in the Centris® system went down by 17% annually, to 26,252.

Meanwhile, the median price of single-family homes across the CMA went up by 6% year-over-year last month, up to $310,000. Condos experienced a 5% increase in median prices, with around half of all units having been sold for over $250,000.

“The acceleration in price growth is a direct result of increasingly tighter market conditions, which can be explained by a decline in the supply of properties for sale,” GMREB board of directors Mathieu Cousineau stated.