Québec's Residential Real Estate Market Registers Solid Growth in the Third Quarter of 2016

L'ÎLE-DES-SŒURS, QC, Oct. 14, 2016 /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, 16,901 sales were concluded in the third quarter of 2016, a 6 per cent increase compared to the third quarter of last year and the ninth consecutive increase in sales. This growth was strongly supported by a 12 per cent increase in condominium sales across the province.

Click here to see the main residential statistics for the province of Québec.

In the third quarter of the year, the largest increase in sales was observed in the Sherbrooke Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (+19 per cent), followed by the Gatineau CMA (+13 per cent), as compared to the same period last year. The Montréal and Trois-Rivières CMAs registered respective sales increases of 6 per cent and 5 per cent, while the Québec City (-1 per cent) and Saguenay (-3 per cent) CMAs registered decreases in sales.

Among the province's main agglomerations, Victoriaville really stood out with an impressive sales increase of 42 per cent. The agglomerations of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield (+24 per cent) and Granby (+19 per cent) also registered significant sales increases compared to the third quarter of last year. In contrast, the agglomerations of Sept-Îles (-17 per cent) and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (-11 per cent) posted fairly large decreases.

The median price of single-family homes across Québec remained relatively stable (+1 per cent) during the period of July to September 2016, as half of all properties sold for more than $228,593. The median price of single-family homes remained unchanged in the Québec City (0 per cent), Trois-Rivières (0 per cent) and Saguenay (0 per cent) CMAs, while in the Gatineau CMA, it fell by 2 per cent despite strong sales growth. In contrast, the Montréal CMA registered a convincing increase in median price (5 per cent) compared to the third quarter of last year, while the Sherbrooke CMA registered a 3 per cent increase.

"Another sign that the province's real estate market is improving is the fact that this was the first time in 22 quarters that the average selling time did not increase," said Paul Cardinal, Manager of the QFREB's Market Analysis Department. "The average selling time, for all property categories combined, remained stable at 121 days compared to the third quarter of 2015," he added.

Note: Regional press releases are available on the QFREB website in the Newsroom section.

About the Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards 
The Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards is a non-profit organization composed of Québec's 12 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.ca
Centris.ca is Québec's real estate industry website for consumers, grouping all properties for sale by a real estate broker – nearly 100,000 – under the same address. Visit Centris.ca to obtain more information and quarterly statistics for the province of Québec.

For more information on Centris^® statistics for each of the province's regions, please read the QFREB Barometers.

SOURCE Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards

Jacynthe Alain, Assistant Manager, Communications and Public Relations, Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards, Tel.: [phone], ext. 175, Cell: 514-647-8249, [email protected]