Inman

August home sales dip in Montreal

Total home sales fell 4 percent in August in Montreal, though the resale market remains strong compared to last year, an industry group reported today.

A total of 3,390 home sales were recorded in August, compared with 3,519 in 2005, the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board said. Sales for the whole year so far have totaled 35,665, up 2 percent from the same period last year.

Condominium resales decreased 7 percent in August compared with last year. For all of 2006, condo sales so far have been up 5 percent to 7,448 transactions compared with last year’s 7,060 sales.

Single-family home sales fell 2 percent in August, with 2,200 transactions versus 2,237 for the same period last year. With 23,034 transactions since the beginning of 2006, single-family home sales account for 65 percent of the resale market and are also up by 2 percent when compared to the 22,491 sales that were recorded on the MLS system for the same period last year.

For the month of August, total sales dollar volume of units sold reached $715.1 million, a decrease of 1 percent compared to the $720.9 million for the same month in 2005. Since the beginning of 2006, total sales dollar volume of units sold reached $7.6 billion, rising 9 percent from the $7 billion recorded in 2005 for the same period.

Based on data collected through the MLS system during the month of August 2006, statistics from the GMREB indicate that the average value of sold single-family homes rose by 3 percent, from $205,000 (August of 2005) to $211,000. Cumulatively, in 2006, the average sale price of single-family homes rose 7 percent to $215,000, compared with $201,000 recorded during the same period in 2005.