Montreal home sales down 17 per cent in April: Quebec brokers association

A home for sale sign is shown on the West Island of Montreal, Saturday, November 4, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

A Quebec real estate organization says last month's Montreal home sales dropped by 17 per cent since last year, making it the least active April the market has seen since 2017.

The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers counted 5,124 homes sold in the Montreal area last month, down from 6,164 last April.

Charles Brant, the association's director of market analysis, took the figures indicating it was the most subdued April in the last five years to mean a significant slowdown has materialized after months of heated conditions.

He says the slowdown is most evident in the single-family home category, where sales rates comparable to this April haven't been since 2014, which was one of the least active periods in the last 20 years.

Despite the drop in sales, the board says median prices for single-family homes rose 16 per cent to $580,000 in April 2021, up even from March 2020, when prices hit $566,000.

The median price of a condo rose by 15 per cent year-over-year to reach $410,000.

April's new listings fell by 10 per cent to 6,300 from 7,027 during the same month last year.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2022.