L'ÎLE-DES-SŒURS, QC, July 16, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - The Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards (QFREB) has released its most recent residential real estate market statistics for the province of Québec, based on the real estate brokers' Centris provincial database. In total, 27,037 sales were concluded in the second quarter of 2018, setting a new second-quarter record. This was also a 6 per cent increase in sales compared to the second quarter of last year.

"This now makes sixteen consecutive quarters that residential sales have increased in Québec," said Paul Cardinal, Manager of the QFREB's Market Analysis Department. "This is only the second time since statistics have been compiled that there's been such a long streak of sales increases," he added.

Here are some of the highlights for the second quarter of 2018.

Sales

• Sales across Québec increased for all three property categories but condominiums clearly stood out with a jump of 14 per cent (6,354 transactions). Sales of single-family homes (18,426 transactions) and plexes with two to five dewllings (2,123 transactions) both increased by 3 per cent.
• Geographically, all of the province's census metropolitan areas (CMAs) registered an increase in sales in the second quarter of 2018, with Gatineau (+15 per cent) and Trois-Rivières (+12 per cent) leading the way. The CMAs of Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Québec City and Montréal followed, with respective increases of 9 per cent, 8 per cent, 6 per cent and 4 per cent.
• Several smaller urban centres also had an exceptional second quarter in terms of sales. These include the agglomerations of Sainte-Agathe (+47 per cent), Mont-Tremblant (+39 per cent), Baie-Comeau (+37 per cent), Rivière-du-Loup (+35 per cent), Granby (+26 per cent), Shawinigan (+25 per cent) and Saint-Hyacinthe (+25 per cent).

Active listings

• The downward trend in active listings continued for a tenth consecutive quarter. From April to June, there was an average of 67,019 properties for sale on the real estate brokers' Centris system, which is a 9 per cent drop compared to the second quarter of 2017.

Prices

• For the province as a whole, the median price of single-family homes increased by 2 per cent to reach $255,000. This was the smallest increase in the past six quarters.
• The largest increases in median price for single-family homes were in the agglomerations of Rouyn-Noranda (+16 per cent), Sorel-Tracy (+7 per cent), Val-d'Or (+7 per cent), Granby (+6 per cent) and Joliette (+6 per cent), as well as in the Sherbrooke CMA (+6 per cent).
• The median price of condominiums also increased by 2 per cent for the province as a whole, reaching $235,000.

Finally, properties that sold in the second quarter of 2018 found a buyer faster than they did one year ago. Single-family homes sold in an average of 105 days, 8 days less than in the second quarter of 2017.

About the Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards
The Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards is a non-profit organization composed of Québec's 11 real estate boards and the close to 13,000 real estate brokers who are their members. Its mission is to support Québec's real estate boards in order to defend, protect and promote the interests of real estate brokers through the provision of services in the areas of professional practices, public affairs and market analysis. The QFREB is guided by an approach that is centred on collaboration and resource sharing.

About Centris
Centris.ca is Québec's real estate industry website for consumers, grouping all properties for sale by a real estate broker under the same address. Société Centris provides real estate industry stakeholders with access to real estate data and a wide range of technology tools. Centris also manages the collaboration system used by more than 13,000 real estate brokers in Québec.

For more detailed statistics on each of the geographic areas of Québec, read the QFREB Barometer

SOURCE Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards

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