Housing prices continue to rise in Montreal, report shows

Housing prices in Montreal were up across the board during the second quarter of 2017 compared with the year-earlier period, according to a report released by real estate company Royal LePage on Thursday. However, there were declines in some areas from the previous three-month period.

“It started off a little quieter in January, February and March, in terms of listings,” said Georges Gaucher, the agency manager at Royal LePage Village, which has offices in N.D.G., the West Island and off-island suburbs. “In April, it was extremely quiet and then May and June have just exploded.”

Condominiums saw the biggest increase. The median price of a condo sold in the Greater Montreal area between April 1 and June 30 was $308,528, up 7.1 per cent from the year-earlier period and up 1.6 per cent from the previous three-month period.

The biggest price increases were in central Montreal, where prices rose 9.1 per cent from the yearearlier period to $370,673. That’s up 2.2 per cent from the previous quarter.

Only the South Shore saw a quarterly decline in condo prices. There, the median price of a condo sold during the quarter was $213,214, up 0.9 per cent from last year, but down 2.1 per cent from the previous three-month period.

It was a similar story for twostorey houses.

The median price of a two-storey house sold in the region was up 6.6 per cent when compared with the year-earlier period, at $460,667. That’s a 1.7 per cent increase from the previous three-month period.

The biggest increase was in central Montreal, where prices were up 9.1 per cent from last year and 3.5 per cent from the previous quarter, reaching $619,599.

Laval also saw price increases on both an annual and quarterly basis.

Prices for two-storey houses in the West Island, the North Shore and the South Shore were all down slightly from the previous quarter. However, in all three areas, prices were up more than two per cent from the year-earlier period.

While the Bank of Canada increased its interest rate by 0.25 per cent on Wednesday, he expects it to have little effect on homebuyers.

“Most banks increased their rates last week. I don’t think they’re going to do it again this week,” he said.