Many on the ground are feeling it, the real estate market in Montreal is in an upswing.
“I’ve been very busy, I’m about to learn Chinese because I’m getting a lot of people outside of the country calling me,” said Alexander Sabouri, a realtor with the Londono Group.
Sabouri helped Yves Jubinville sell his home in NDG – in only two days and at full asking price.
“We were expecting it would be a much longer process, a process by which we would have time to think and figure out about our own needs,” Jubinville said.
But if selling was easy, buying wasn’t.
“We put up an offer and the next day there was a counter offer. We were not really accustomed to that,” Jubinville said.
“We had to battle, we had to battle to get what we needed.”
Jubinville is just one of the thousands of people getting a taste of Montreal’s changing real estate market.
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This last quarter, over 21,000 residential sales were made across the province.
That’s a six per cent increase over last year.
The condo market saw a 13 per cent spike, making up a fifth of all new sales.
Smaller urban centres like Sept-Îles and Mont Tremblant registered significant increases of around 50 per cent.
This quarter also marks the first time in six years that the average selling time fell, capping out at 118 days for residential properties.
So, are we seeing the beginning of a skyrocketing trend like the ones Vancouver and Toronto have seen?
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“On the supply side, we’re seeing a lot of product that’s being built and when you’re seeing a lot of product being added to the market, prices tend to stay relatively flat,” said William Jegher, senior VP of EY’s real estate services.
“I don’t think there’s anything to fear particularly.”
Jegher credits the trend to political stability in the country.
“I think there’s a lot of confidence in the market these days here, which I think is lending itself to strong real estate conditions,” Jegher precised.
Jegher also believes properties in the suburbs like the south shore and the West Island could likely go up due to transportation projects like the new Champlain Bridge and the light rail train.
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Experts say the upswing seems to be a stable one and there’s no reason to panic.
“I think things are looking positive, not necessarily towards being a bubble, but just towards Montreal being a real estate market being priced where it should be priced,” Jegher added.
“I don’t think there’s anything to fear, particularly because on the supply side, we’re seeing a lot of product that’s being built and when you’re seeing a lot of product being added to the market, prices tend to stay relatively flat.”
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