With the arrival of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic Montreal’s residential real estate market continues to outperform expectations.
Sales and price records were set again in September in areas like the West Island, and industry professionals say it’s hard to predict what will happen in the next few months.
“Most of us don’t know,” Lydia Moreyne, a residential real estate broker with Royal Lepage admitted, “because of the uncertain times.”
Baie-d’Urfé resident Yan Locas is happy with the way things are going. His family just sold their house on Winters Street. He said the sale happened so quickly, he’s still in shock.
“Two days,” he told Global News. “Just in two days, it was crazy!”
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The place went for $1.3 million, more than $300,000 what he said they paid for it four years ago.
That’s just one example of what’s been happening in the West Island since the end of the first COVID-19 wave. An unprecedented number of homes are being sold for $1 million or more.
“Between January to May there were only 35 sales in the multimillion-dollar market,” said Moreyne. “Since then 117 have been sold. In October alone there have been 12 sales already.”
She pointed out that most are sold within days.
The situation is similar across the Montreal region.
Since June the real estate market in and around the city has taken off.
According to a report issued this week by the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers, home sales have increased by 42 per cent over last year, and “the median price of single-family homes across the CMA jumped by 21 per cent compared to September of last year to reach $430,000.”
“There’s less product on the market,” explained Moreyne, “especially in the suburbs, and also low interest rates.”
0:53 Coronavirus: Interest rates will remain low ‘for a long time’ Bank of Canada Governor says
Coronavirus: Interest rates will remain low ‘for a long time’ Bank of Canada Governor says
After COVID-19 restrictions eased in early summer, sales skyrocketed. The real estate association wrote in its report that “the real estate market in the Montreal CMA has finally recovered all the transactions lost in early spring due to the COVID-19 confinement measures.”
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But Moreyne noted that prices haven’t dropped.
“September was very hot, even more so than August in some regions,” she said.
She added that people want houses for a change in lifestyle.
“They want to accommodate the whole ‘work from home, play and live’ and in order to do so they want bigger spaces,” she reasoned.
With the second wave, she believes, the same could hold true.
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Coronavirus: Real estate market in Ontario’s cottage country experiencing boom
In an email, Charles Brant, market analysis director at the Real Estate Association wrote that regarding the rise in prices, “the association does not foresee a severe market turnaround given the critical lack of properties for sale in many areas of Montreal.” That’s if there isn’t a pandemic confinement similar to what happened in the spring, he explained.
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He also said he doesn’t think the level of sales and price growth is sustainable in the short and medium-term. “But given the strength of the rebound of Quebec’s economy, we envisage a soft landing.”
Locas believes he got lucky.
“You work all your life for a house, and now you sold it, and after you can buy a new one and you pay cash! It’s crazy!”
HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.
Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.
Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.
The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.
Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.
The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.
Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.
Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500
Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438
Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103
Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359
Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent
How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.
Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.
The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.
Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.
More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.
Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.
An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
