Metro Montreal’s housing market has strung together an impressive streak: Home sales have increased for 49 straight months.
And in March, it didn’t take much to keep the streak alive. Sales increased 1 percent on a year-over-year basis to a total of 5,710 residential units, according to the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers.
Gains in the condo segment were more pronounced, with 2,079 units changing hands, up 5 percent from March last year. Single-family home sales were virtually unchanged, as 3,203 transactions were recorded, only seven more than this time a year ago.
Activity in the plex category (these buildings house between two to five dwellings) dipped 5 percent, but these types of deals represent a smaller share of the market. In all, 422 plexes sold in March.
Home prices also increased last month. The median price of a single-family home was $331,000, an increase of 5 percent annually. Condo growth clocked in at 3 percent to a median price of $248,000. Plex prices were unchanged at $500,000.
Meantime, the Montreal market tightens. Some 7,508 new listings appeared on the market in March, a decrease of 3 percent from the same month last year.
Active listings, which represent available listings at the end of a given month, plunged 15 percent on a year-over-year basis. There were 22,430 listings available across the Montreal census metro area at March’s close.
Montreal’s March sales data appear to confirm a previous prediction from Scotiabank Economics that the city would see “
pretty strong price gains” this spring.