Quebecers who are currently waiting before buying a property in the hope that prices will fall have probably already failed.
Since the Bank of Canada’s decision to stabilize its key rate at 4.5% on March 8, enthusiasm for the housing market has exploded.
“As we anticipated, the return of real estate demand came quickly following the Central Bank hinted that the worst was over by stabilizing its key interest rate. And this coincided with the return of good weather and the popular hunting season for houses for sale, ”explained Marc Lefrançois, licensed real estate broker at Royal LePage Tendance, in a press release Thursday.
Thus, in Greater Montreal, the average price of properties was, for the first quarter of the year, 3.5% lower than on the same date in 2022. However, in fact, the average price increased by 1 .3% this winter compared to the previous quarter in the fall.
This rapid market recovery suggests that the correction in real estate prices is already over. As such, Royal LePage now expects property values to climb, on average, 3% in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
When making its forecasts at the end of the year, the real estate franchisor was instead expecting a 1% drop in property values over one year.
Elsewhere in Quebec, all markets were up in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the fourth of 2022, with jumps of 3.4% in Gatineau, 7.8% in Sherbrooke, 2.5% in Trois- Rivières and 2% in Quebec.
“In light of the results of the first quarter of 2023, Royal LePage estimates that competition will remain high this spring in all the Quebec markets under study, pushing prices up once more,” concluded the company.
