For the past five years, their numbers have increased throughout Quebec, but the pool of real estate agents in the province is expected to drop as home sales continue to cool since the pandemic.
There are currently about 17,000 real estate brokers in Quebec. It’s been a lean winter and the Montreal housing market has yet to thaw.
In February, the majority of homes were still selling at or slightly above the listing price in Montreal, however, residential sales are down 32 per cent from the same period last year, based on data from the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB). A total of 2,996 homes changed hands in February in the Montreal census metropolitan area, compared to 4,375 in the same month last year, the association said.
As a result, a record number of real estate brokers across Quebec could soon make the difficult decision to leave the profession.
Longtime broker Terry Kilakos says it’s sort of a “boom and bust” scenario.
“The way the market was and the way that things were kind of moving, homes weren’t staying on the market very long, Everyone was looking for homes, everyone was — there was a lot of activity, so just people decided, ‘Hey, you know what, I might as well go and become a real estate broker and see if I can catch some of that wave,” Kilakos said.
The OACIQ, the authority that issues licences to real estate brokers in Quebec, said the industry saw a 15 per cent jump since 2018. But in 2023, the housing market in Quebec is not able to support them all.
“They found themselves kind of looking for clients and not really being as active as they should be. A lot of them decided to go and get part-time jobs or full-time jobs and do real estate part-time and now a lot of those agents, because they had gotten those jobs, they’re moving out of the industry,” Kilakos said.
“The big day is May 1st — that’s when we’ll know who is going to stay in the industry and who is not.”
At the end of April, the province’s 17,000 brokers will have to renew their real estate licences. Valid for one year, the fees for the licences range between $1,900 for an established broker and $2,300 for a newcomer.
Kilakos said now that the market is slowing down, “that exasperates the frustration and makes them say, “Hey, you know what? We’re going to jump and go do something else.”
NUMBER OF HOMES FOR SALE WENT UP
The number of properties listed for sale continued to increase in February, showing a 64 per cent increase compared to last year. A total of 15,893 listings were recorded in Greater Montréal last month, which was slightly higher than the pre-pandemic level of February 2020, the QPAREB said.
Median property prices showed a further decline compared to February 2022, particularly in the small-income property category (plexes and buildings with two to five units), where they fell by eight per cent.
The median price for a single-family home was $515,000, down six per cent from a year ago. Condos sold at a median price of $380,000, a decrease of four per cent from last February.
Compared to January, however, median prices increased by three per cent for condominiums and single-family homes. This growth reached five per cent for plexes.
In addition, the slowdown in transactional activity in the real estate market is resulting in longer average selling times for all housing categories. It took an average of 82 days to sell a plex last month, 27 days longer than in February of last year.
Single-family homeowners took an average of 58 days to sell their property, up 26 days from a year ago, while condominiums took 19 days longer, to 60 days.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
