Montreal Fall Market Update

While Vancouver is still Canada’s most expensive city for housing, a recent collapse in sales has led the value of real estate transactions reducing substantially, putting Montreal on pace to replace it as Canada’s second largest housing market.

In January, the total dollar value of real estate transactions in Vancouver fell to $1.7 billion (US$1.3 billion) on a seasonally adjusted basis, the weakest level since 2013 and down 42 per cent from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the value of transactions in Montreal reached $1.63 billion to start the year, an increase of 18 per cent from last January.

This year saw home sales in Montreal climb the fastest in a decade as lower prices and a booming economy lured buyers. Sales in the city advanced 7.1 per cent from December, the fastest pace since May 2009, and the number of units sold reached a record. Montreal’s gains are well ahead of identical moves in Vancouver and Toronto where sales rose 1.2 per cent, and double the national increase of 3.6 per cent.

There’s far less concern Montreal will show the signs of overheating seen in Canada’s two other major cities, given price differentials as Montreal’s benchmark home price was $349,300 in January, up 6.3 per cent from a year earlier. That’s still far less than the Vancouver price of $1.02 million, which is down 4.5 per cent.

-Bloomberg