Showing posts with label Montreal resales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Montreal resales. Show all posts

Friday, April 15, 2016

Montreal's Resale Market Regains the Bounce in its Step During the First Quarter of '16

Good news from the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board. The local resale market got off to its best start in four years, with a 10 per cent increase in sales across all housing types.

There were 10,600 sales during the first three months of 2016, compared to 9,645 a year earlier. Sales were up across the Greater Montreal area, which is divided into five different census area.

Revenue properties with two to five units saw the biggest jump, up 20 per cent. That represented 958 properties sold. Condo sales were up 12 per cent, though prices edged down 1 per cent compared to a year earlier. Single home sales rose by six per cent, to 6,449 units.

The average prices of a Montreal home rose to $285,000, a two-per-cent bump. That average prices takes into account all sales from unrenovated bungalow in the furthest reaches of the 450 to the grandest mansion sold in Westmount. Obviously, there have been many more of the former than there were of the latter. Don't takes the average prices as an indication of what a house will cost you on the island.

The first-quarter results represent the seventh consecutive quarterly increase since 2000, when the board began keeping trimestrial statistics in 2000. Good times!

There were 34,208 properies listed for sale in the Montreal area, down five per cent compared to a year earlier.



Tuesday, January 13, 2015

December Housing Sales Up vs 2012 & 2013

 
Montreal's resale market ended 2014 with a bang, recording its best December for housing sales in three years.

A total of 2,203 homes were sold in the final month of '14, a 9-per-cent increase over the same month in 2013, which, if we're being honest, was a pretty crappy year for the local housing scene. (I am looking at you Pauline Marois and your trio of ill-behaved frat boys, Drainville, Peladeau and Lisée.)

It is no secret that the housing market took a dive during the Parti Québeois' 18-month chair-warming tenure as government. That took care of the final quarter of 2012, all of 2013 and the first bit of 2014. Happily, sales began to regain equilibrium in the second half of last year.

The North Shore and Laval led the charge, registering an eye-popping  26 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. Sales were up on the island by 8 per cent and 4 per cent on the South Shore.

Somewhat surprisingly, sales of both single-family homes and condominiums rose by 9 per cent and plex sales rose by 10 per cent. This despite an abundance of new and resale condos available. The median home prices remained unchanged at $284,000, while condo prices inched up by two per cent.

The number of active listings also rose December over December by 8 per cent. More choice for everyone!


Wednesday, September 4, 2013

City Offering $136 million in Subsidies and Incentives to Keep Homebuyers on the Island

The city of Montreal has quietly renewed a program to encourage tenants and families to buy and stay on the island. The on-again, off-again home ownership program received a $136-million cash injection with little fanfare in April. As in years past, the city will take applications for up to  three years, or until the cash runs out.

The cash tends to run out well before the three years are up.

Still, not a bad program if you fit the various criteria. For new homes, the incentives are on a sliding scale, depending on whether you are a single buyer, a couple without children or a household with children. The lump sum incentives range from $4,500 to $12,000 . Households with kids can also get a refund of the hated welcome tax.

Not bad! The program gets complicated when you look at the types of properties that are eligible. For single buyers, the maximum budget is $200,000, for a couple $250,000. If you're buying for a family, the budget can go as high at $360,000, but to qualify for the highest amount you must buy a three-bedroom unit.

The program will also refund the welcome tax on the purchase of a resale duplex or triplex, providing the purchase price is not more than $450.000 and $490.000 respectively.

Households with kids can also get six months of free public transit with the purchase of a one-year Opus card. It is not clear from the brochure whether this means a total of 18 months of public transit for the price of 12 or 12 months for the price of six.

As with any program, there's lots of small print. Still, worth looking into if it can save you several thousand dollars, right?

Here's the website, en anglais et en francais .

You can also download the brochure on the site.


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

New Listing in LaSalle 8997-8999 Godbout

Amy Barratt and I have just listed an impeccable 1965 duplex at 8997-8999 Godbout in LaSalle. The property has been inhabited by the same owners since the year of construction and has been carefully maintained.

It consists of two three-bedroom dwellings. The ground floor has a finished basement with powder room, laundry room and workshop, as well as a two-car, tandem garage. The ground floor is available for immediate occupancy.

The upper is rented for $800 a month, heated. It has washer and dryer in the bathroom.

Both units are heated by a single oil-burning furnace, with hot-water (radiator) heating systems that are independent of one another. The ground floor also has a wall-mounted A/C.

What I love about this property is that the original style has been lovingly preserved. The kitchen is straight out of an episode of the Brady Bunch, I'm pretty sure. Love the real wood-grain cabinets. Love the copper drawer pulls. Love the etched glass panels with geese in full flight.

.(Love the wallpaper a little less, but that is a cosmetic trifle.)

This property has gleaming, unsullied oak floors throughout the main level. The basement has wall-to-wall carpets which are being steam cleaned as I write.

The roof was installed in 2004 and is still under guarantee. The front and rear balcony railings, stairs and flashings were redone in aluminum within the last decade. Ditto the fibreglass balcony decks.

The thermopane windows date from 1992. The hot water tanks were replaced in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The oil tank was replaced in 1999.

The living room is large and quite bright, thanks to the southwestern exposure that provides lots of afternoon sunlight through a big picture window. Fabulous for entertaining.

The bedrooms are well proportioned with good closet space and big windows.

The bathroom is fully functional if a little retro with its pink wall tile, pink and white shower tiles and pink marble-effect arborite vanity. It has a large closet and could easily be remodeled for the washer and dryer. Again, a trifle to change.

The lot is also larger than average for the neighborhood, measuring 388 square metres or 4180 square feet. 

Asking price is $453,000, which is a very competitive price for the area. 

Give me a call to schedule a visit. Mary Lamey (514) 978-6522 or Amy Barratt (514) 718-6522










Friday, May 4, 2012

Just Listed! Location, location, location.

Looking for an oasis in the middle of the Plateau action? Look no further.

Amy Barratt and I have just listed a 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 2-level condo in Chateau Esplanade, the impressive tan brick complex at 4433 de l'Esplanade, just south of Mont-Royal Ave.

The Chateau is made up of a number of  connected three-storey buildings, set around landscaped coutryards. They are protected heritage buildings.

The unit we have for sale is a coolly contemporary condo, with a large open living and dining room with fireplace, master bedroom, kitchen; laundry and bathroom on the main (1st floor). Downstairs, there is a second generously proportioned bedroom, an office corner with library, second bathroom and storage.

The asking price is $379,000.


This could be an ideal set up for a first-time buyer who wants to take in a roommate, university students, or a family with a teenager. Because of the very practical division of space everyone can have privacy.

The unit has undergone several smart renos in recent years, including new hardwood floors in the living and dining room. The laundry and storage area were reworked to impove functionality and dressed up with custom-made floor-to-celing sliding doors.

The bathroom has been entirely renovated. In the kitchen, a quartz  counter with a glass tile backsplash, undermounted sink and high-end faucet were installed. The property is being sold with the refrigerator, dishwasher and stove included.

 There is so much to like about the area. First, the building faces Jeanne-Mance Park and all that the city has to offer. Pick-up soccer in the park, a kids' wading pool and playground and the gateway to Mount Royal, for starters.

Then there's everything else. There's grocery shopping at the corner of St. Urban and Mont Royal Ave. The shops and restos on St. Laurent Blvd. are steps away. Park Ave is nearby and the funky boutiques and metro stop are a short walk away on Mont Royal.

There's a Bixi stand on the corner and at least 4 bus routes - the 11, 57, 55, 80 and 129 - are all within steps of your door.

The Chateau Esplanade is a well managed building with an involved board of directors made up of building residents, as well as a professional management company. In the last two years, owners voted to repoint the brick on the building's main facade and also undertook a large project to reinforce the building's stone foundation by pouring 100 linear feet of concrete. These projects have been paid for. The roof was redone in the last six years. There are no other major repair or renovation projects on the horizon.

Have a taste for a condo that combines the best of heritage architecture and contemporary design?  Come have a look at our listing. Check it out at Centris.ca by punching in MLS #8750675.














Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Montreal Resales Top the Billion Dollar Mark

Montreal home sales rose by three per cent in October, the sixth straight month of sales increase in the metropolitan area.
The big news is that sales topped the $1-billion mark, a notable accomplishment in a market where the average price of a single-family home is in the range of $270,000 and the average condo just under $227,000.
Price hikes were seen in most parts of Greater Montreal, with the exception of the South Shore, where sales were flat and the nunber of active listings rose by 21 per cent.
For the record, only a modest part of that $1 billion ended up in my mink-lined pocket last month.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Montreal Resales Surge in September

Eager buyers paced a surge in single-family home and condominium sales on the island of Montreal in September,with sales in each category rising by 15 per cent and 10 per cent respectively compared to September, 2010, according the latest stats from the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board.
That worked out to 324 houses and 510 condos sold.
The jump in those two categories offset a 5 per cent drop in plex sales last month. The number of two- to five-unit building sold totaled 213, compared to 225 a year earlier. Sales volume, or the amont of money buyers spent, rose by 6 per cent to $854.4 million in September alone.

The strong September results were the fourth consecutive month of gains for the Greater Montreal area, with the island leading the way.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Canada's 5 Priciest Properties

Huffington Post Canada has a piece today about the five priciest residential properties for sale in Canada. Three of them are in Vancouver, a fourth on Toronto's tony Bridle Path and the fifth on Ile Bizard in good old Montreal. I've looked at this house and can't help but think that it looks more like a corporate resort than a place where flesh and blood humans live.
Check them out here.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Looking for Real Estate Deals

I just took part in a live chat hosted by The Gazette on the topic of finding real estate deals. The questions came at us fast and thick. It was a bit chaotic but lotsa fun.

You can read the transcript here. There are some good tips for finding deals and knowing a deal when you see one.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Smart Guy Sticks a Pin in Talk of Housing Bubble

Gazette business columnist Jay Bryan ushered out 2010 with an excellent column that explains in clear, simple terms why all the hysterical talk about the bursting of the Canadian housing bubble is so much nonsense.
He's right, of course. The Globe and Mail regularly ran stories in the Report of Business about the imminent collapse of the housing market here. Any day now. Any... day... now. . .   I guess it made a nice change from those stories about whether there was going to be a snap federal election zzzzzzzz. Sorry, the thought of an election is so boring, I must have dozed off.
I ran into several buyers in 2010 who were poised to invest in real estate because they were certain that the market was about to collapse and they would be able to swoop in and buy up distressed properties at deep discounts. With clients like that, I listen politely and then gently disagree. Prices are rising, not by leaps and bounds but they are rising. Anybody who thinks they are going to get a great deal and pay less than they did a year ago, or even two years ago, is mistaken.
Here's the column, which I can't help but notice is being widely reposted in the blogosphere. Skeptical bloggers are taking aim at Jay Bryan and accusing him of drinking Canadian Real Estate Association Kool-Aid.
I think we should let those bloggers get back to stocking up their bomb shelters.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Just Listed - Mile End Condo. Charm + Space + Location

 Are you looking for a condo that exemplifies everything people love about charming, funky Mile End? Look no further. This gorgeous two-bedroom corner unit has more than 1,100-square feet of living space, a large private deck, basement storage and shared use of the back yard. Asking price is $385,000.

It's the ground floor of a red brick triplex located on Clark just south of Laurier Ave. There's a bike path outside the front door, a Bixi bike stand on the corner as well as all the shops, restos and services your heart could ever desire.

Inside, you'll find all the charm typical of a 1910 building: high ceilings, elaborate wedding-cake plasterwork, cast-iron radiators, vintage suspended light fiixtures,  high wooden kitchen cabinetry and beautifully weathered wood floors.

Charm will take you so far in life. This condo has benefitted from quality upgrades, including all new plumbing and electrical (2004), new argon-gas filled windows and the installation of a high-efficiency Veissman gas furnace that keep those radiators toasty warm in winter.

Unlike many of the apartments offered in Mile End, this is a divided condo, meaning that the down payment required is a minimum five per cent, not 20 per cent.

There's lots more to love about this place. It currently has one closed bedroom but also has two double rooms, one of which could easily be converted into two more bedrooms.  Or you can enjoy the open, airy layout as is.

The recently renovated bathroom has an exposed brick wall, white subway tile accented by a strip of red and brown floral tile in the tub and dark brown wooden cabinets. Very zen!

The kitchen has a door leading to the private deck and shared yard where a sour cherry tree produces huge quantities of ruby red fruit each summer.

Library
Living room

Dining Room
Kitchen
Would you like to know more? Drop by our open house at 5048 Clark, Sunday, November 14, 2010 between 2- 4 p.m.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Bursting the Myth of the Real Estate Bubble

If I had a nickel for every time someone has said they were waiting for Montreal's real estate "bubble" to burst, I'd have enough money to buy one of those fancy lattés instead of a Timmy's double-double.
The myth of the bubble is the single biggest misconception I battle as an agent. I can talk until I'm blue in the face about fundamentals like interest rates, job creation and demographic shifts and the impact they have on the local housing market but I guess I have all the credibility of a used-car sales person. "Trust me! I'm a real estate agent."
OK, so don't believe me. But take a peek at this column by Gazette business scribe Jay Bryan. He puts his boots (more like LL Bean mocs, actually) to the myth of the housing bubble

Here's an interesting point to note about the Montreal real estate scene. The number of properties for sale in May, the last month for which there are statistics, fell by 16 per cent compared to a year earlier. That might have to do with nervousness. It's also true that if people don't list, other people don't list and next thing you know, there's a shortage of listings. A classic Catch 22.
That shortage of listings translated into an 8-per-cent drop in sales. Still, despite the inventory squeeze, the volume or total dollar value of sales rose by 1 per cent compared to May, 2009. Prices for houses, condos and plexes were up 8 per cent, 7 per cent and 11 per cent respectively, according to the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board
Not too shabby

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Montreal Housing Resales Climb in September

Housing resales across the greater Montreal area rose by five per cent in September, compared to the same month a year earlier, according to the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board.
Last fall was a slower than average period for real estate, what with everyone gripped by the collapse of the U.S. housing and banking sectors. But this September's numbers don't just look good compared to a crummy '08. According the GMREB, it was the best September on record. (We pause to toot our party horns and raise a midday glass of champagne!)
I know I'm doing my best to keep the numbers up. I closed two sales last month. That compared to one sale in September, 2008. A welcome 50-per-cent increase!(Update: Alert reader Amy Barratt points out that is actually a 100-per-cent increase. This is why I let her handle the calculator.)
What else does the board say? Prices are on the rise, with the median price of a single-family home or condominium unit up 7 per cent. Plexes are up by 5 per cent.
The number of active listings decreased by 7 per cent to 20,912. The number of new listings to hit the MLS system in September totaled 6,110, a 11-per-cent drop compared to a year earlier.
There were more sales between January and September, 2008 but lower volume through the first nine months of 2009 translated into prices that were bwtween 3 and 4 per cent higher than a year ago.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

No Dog Days of August for Montreal Real Estate

Resale housing in the Greater Montreal region rose by robust 9 per cent in August, according to the latest figures from the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board.
The prices increases were seen in all property types and across a wide geographic area.
The number of single-family home sales rose by 5 per cent compared to August of last year, totaling 1,674 properties. On the condo front, sales rose by 15 per cent to 855, while plex sales rose by 17 per cent to 337 units.
All three property types saw price increases, too. Single homes rose by an average of 6 per cent, plexes ( 2 to 5 units) rose 5 per cent and condos by 3 per cent.
The board pointed to the usual factors -- low borrowing rates, an improving job market and stronger consumer confidence -- as the key to the August market.
It must also be noted that August, 2008 was about the time all hell began to break loose in the U.S. economy, with failures setting off a chain reaction of business failings and job losses.
Montreal managed to dodge the bullet, at least compared to many other large North American cities. Still, the beginning of the year was a little too quiet for most agents' liking.
First-time buyers kept us busy during the bleakest part of winter. New rules allowing first-timers to withdraw up to $25,000 from their RRSPs helped quite a bit. Eventually, vendors and buyers regained their nerve, making for a busy May through August.
The cheery portrait was confirmed in a new report by RBC Economic Research, the thinking end of the big chartered bank. RBC tracks housing affordability across Canada - ie the portion of pretax household revenue needed to service mortgage, utilities and taxes. Affordability got a boost in the second quarter, thanks to lower mortgage rates and a softer real estate market.
In Montreal, that meant carrying costs for the typical bungalow ate up 37.3 per cent of household income, down from 38.1 per cent during the previous three-month period.
For the average condo owner, 30.1 per cent of household income were dedicated to paying the mortgage et al, compared to 30.9 per cent three months earlier.
The average Vancouver bungalow owner spends 63.4 per cent of household income paying the mortgage. In Tawrawna, it's 45.6 per cent.
"Greater affordability has opened the door more fully to buyers, who have sprung into action," noted Robert Hogue, senior economist at RBC. "Sales of existing homes in Quebec have rebounded strongly, rising by more than 40 per cent from the cyclical low reached mid-winter, with improved market sentiment helping prices rise."
Taking the current market conditions into account, the Royal says affordability is unlikely to show much more improvement locally in the near term.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Pauline Marois' Chateau on Île-Bizard Up for Grabs


The Parti Québecois' grande dame has put her spacious waterfront retreat on the block, much to the delight of local media hacks.
The 12,000-square-foot La Closerie is listed with Sotheby's International Realty for a cool $8 million. That price buys you the usual bells and whistles of genteel West Island living, including 1.7-million square feet of fenced, landscaped and manicured land overlooking Rivière des Prairies. The 15-room home has eight bedrooms and a total of 10 bath and powder rooms.
You can check out the full listing on the Sotheby's site.
You might recall that Château Marois made headlines in 2007 when The Gazette ran an investigative piece by William Marsden alleging that Marois and her husband, the financier Claude Blanchet, improperly annexed government-owned agricultural land to create the 41.3-acre estate. You can read a version of Marsden's original story here.
None of the allegations have been proven in court. It is worth noting that Marois and Blanchet are now suing The Gazette and Marsden for libel, to the tune of $2 million.
Back to the house. News of the listing has created a buzz for columnists and bloggers during the usually drowsy summer news season.
La Presse's Patrick Lagacé blogged about the château, noting that he was surprised by how tasteful the place is. "We've all seen rich people with way less taste when it comes to matters of interior decorating."
Still, Lagacé thinks the house sends the wrong message. Too big, too in-yer-face for voters to easily accept.
Readers are engaging in a brisk back and forth. Some chide the leader of the soi-dissant social democratic PQ, for being showy. Others are equally vocal in their defense, saying Quebecers need to get over their deeply ingrained suspicion and jealousy of those who make scads of money. "Does she have to rent a 3 1/2 in Montreal North to satisfy you people?" goes one comment.
Anyway, if any of you are interested in seeing Château Marois, references required, please give me a call. I would love to collect the commission.
But I'm not holding my breath.

UPDATE

As luck would have it, I ran into Marois' agent Cyrille Girard of Sotheby's last week. He opened the door for my client and me at one his listings on Parc La Fontaine. I knew Cyrille slightly from my old job as Gazette real estate reporter. I complimented him on the coup of landing La Closerie. He showed me some clippings from the papers.
Here's the interesting part. Girard told me with a big conspiratorial smile that he has an even more interesting listing on Île-Bizard. It has nearly 35,000 square feet of living space. He told me who it belongs to. I'm not going to tell, but I will give two broad hints. She used to be the first lady of a country in southeast Asia. The 35,000 square feet presumably includes plenty of room for her shoes.
That's all I'm going to say.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Pent-Up Demand Propelled a Busy July for Montreal Real Estate

July is usually considered the dog days of Montreal's resale market. With so many buyers and sellers focused on finding a place and moving by almighty July 1, business tends to tail of for the rest of the month and everyone heads off for a well-earned vacation, or to recuperate after helping a friend move a sectional sofa into a third-floor walk-up.
Not this year!
Housing resales across greater Montreal rose by 19 per cent last month, compared to July, 2008. Median home prices rose by 7 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier.
In reality, I think the sales increase could be pinned on pent-up demand. The real estate market got off to a slow start this year. Buyers usually start kicking tires in early February with an eye towards closing the sale sometime in mid June. This year, sales were down in February, March and April before recovering in May and June. July's increase was an example of pent-up demand in action.
For a period of about seven months the Montreal housing market decided to wait and see. The terrible headlines from south of the border and points west put homeowners on edge and made buyers clutch their wallets a little tighter.
Thank goodness for the first-time buyers, who recognized that low interest rates and steady prices meant great deals were to be had.
Here's the breakdown of sales on the island of Montreal, courtesy of my industry overlords at the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board.

July 2009

Active listings: 7,695 (-6 per cent)

Total sales: 1,325 (+19 per cent)

Single-family: 454 (+23 per cent)
Condominium: 930 (+17 per cent)
Plexes 2-5 units: 275 (+16 per cent)

Volume of sales: $448,600,429 (+20 per cent)

Overall sales still trail 2008, but with recessionary jitters hopefully safe in our rear-view mirrors, I'm looking forward to finishing the year strong.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Imagine Montreal Without Old Montreal or Mount Royal Park

Happily, we don't have to entertain such nightmare scenarios, thanks in large part to visionary architect Sandy van Ginkel.
There was a time in Montreal when the powers that be in city hall and development circles saw the cobbled streets of Old Montreal as a slum ripe for urban renewal. In the early 1960s, a plan to build an expressway through the heart of the old city was formulated. Van Ginkel is credited with persuading the city's first urban planning director, Claude Robillard, of the cultural and historical value of Old Montreal.(Duh!) The Ville Marie Expressway was dug a few blocks north and Old Montreal was saved.
It wasn't his only gift to the city. He worked on the master plan for Expo 67 and saw promise in a young architecture student named Moshe Safdie. With van Ginkel's help, Safdie went on to design Habitat 67. He opposed development on Mount Royal. His other accomplishments included designing new towns in Sweden and the Netherlands after World War II and a hydrogen-powered bus used in the city of Vail. Did I mention he was also a member of the Dutch Resistance during the war?
Van Ginkel died on July 5 at the age of 89. The Globe and Mail has a nice obituary here. Canadian Architect weighs in here.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Montreal Real Estate Resales, Straight From the Horse's Mouth


June sales were up, up, up despite the lousy weather. I love that the real-estate board spokespeople are huddled under an umbrella outside the front door of the massively ugly Greater Montreal Real Estate Board headquarters, better to take advantage of the natural light. I guess they don't have the technology to shoot video indoors under fluorescent lights.
BTW, it has always struck me as funny that GMREB operates out of one of the tackiest office buildings in the city. How tackiest? If the GMREB was a custom tailor, it would be wearing a white polyester leisure suit with stealth-bomber lapels.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Housing Affordability, Hard to Beat Montreal

A new study by RBC Economics finds that housing affordability improved across Canada during the first three months of the year, with weaker home prices and lower borrowing costs substantially reducing costs in many markets.
On average, the cost to own a typical bungalow across Canada fell by 17 per cent, to $1,350 a month compared to $1,650 a month during the first quarter of last year.
RBC's affordability index looks at the percentage of pre-tax household income used to pay mortgage, utilities and property taxes. The Canadian average was 39.4 per cent, though you probably paid waaaay more than that if you lived in Vancouver, where the average household spends nearly 63 per cent of pre-tax income covering housing costs.
There would be revolution in the streets of Montreal if housing costs ever gobbled up anywhere near that percentage of income on anything as stodgy as a roof overhead.
In a city where renters still make up a bigger percentage of the population than in any other large Canadian city, people put a premium on living well with their money, even if it means settling for a smaller, possibly shabbier apartment. Don't believe me? Just peek through the window of any reasonably good resto on St. Denis St. on any Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday night. We like to eat out, and wash a good meal down with a good bottle of wine. Not once a week or once a month, as often as possible. Good food, nice clothes (your humble blogger excepted) and travel, these are the things Montrealers like to spend their money on.
The good news? It remains more affordable to buy and maintain a home in Montreal than in almost any city in Canada.
In Toronto, housing costs eat up nearly 46 per cent of household income, in Ottawa, it was just over 39 per cent. The two large cities that had costs lower than Montreal were Calgary (35 per cent) and Edmonton (34 per cent).
The RBC report found that Quebec housing markets fared better during the downturn than other parts of the country. Prices dipped a little during the last few months of 2008 but rebounded quickly in the spring.
"During this blip of a few months, prices barely missed a beat, generally staying their upward course (albeit at a slower pace.)" according to RBC's economists.
There was a common theme with the first-time buyers I worked with during the first half of the year. They all seemed to think the housing market was in freefall and that they would be able to pick up a house at a steep discount.
They were half right. Prices did not fall in Montreal. They held steady or rose slightly compared to last year. Where the discounts came was in borrowing costs, which fell steeply. That's what made this spring a good time to house hunt.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Best News I've Heard in Maybe Seven Months



The number-crunchers at the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board report that May marked the first time in seven months that home sales outpaced the same month a year earlier.
Yup, after a sl-oooooo-w fall and early winter, buyers started to pop up like so many brave little crocuses in late March and April. In May, they were in full flower.
Sales through the board's MLS system increased by 8 per cent to 4,839 transactions. Single-family homes led the way, with 2,959 sales, a 13-per-cent increase compared to the same month in 2008. Condo sales rose by 2 per cent and plex sales up by 3 per cent.
The market spread the love around, with sales on the South Shore up by 13 per cent, year over year, on the North Shore sales rose 8 per cent. In Montreal, the off-island western suburbs and Laval, saw sales increase by 7, 5 and 4 per cent respectively.
What happened to get the market moving? The real estate board pegged it to increased consumer confidence, which is at its highest level since July, 2008. According to the board, 55 per cent of consumers surveyed said this was a good time to buy a home, compared to only 38 per cent in April. Historically low interest rates may have had something to do with that increased confidence.