Thursday, March 5, 2009

February: Sales Declined But Prices Rose

The Greater Montreal Real Estate Board issued hotly anticipated new data on the local market this morning. It shows that sales fell overall by 30 per cent in the metropolitan area last month but that prices increased by 2 per cent.

Here's the breakdown:

Single-family homes: 1,947 sold, -30%, average price $225,000, +2%

Condominiums: 863 sold, -32%, average price $187,000, +6%

Plexes (2-5 units): 291 sold, -27%, average price $329,000, -1%.

The good news is that despite uncertainty in the economy, Montreal homeowners are in no panic to dump their homes. The flip side is that fewer people are inclined to list their homes unless they have to. A total of 7,360 new listings were added to the board's computerized MLS system in February, a 7-per-cent decrease compared to the same month a year ago.

Statisticians also caution against drawing conclusions from a small survey. One month's worth of statistics don't tell the whole story.

1 comment:

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