The average price of a Quebec condo increased to $255,000, a 6 per cent increase from the second quarter of 2019.

Sales, however, were down, with 4,760 condos sold since April—a 34 per cent dip since last Q2. The average selling time of condominiums also dropped significantly over the past year. Across the province, a condo sold in the second quarter of the year remained on the market for 77 days, which is a drop of 16 days compared to the second quarter of 2019.

Prices also jumped in the single-family market by 4 per cent, with a 19 per cent decline in sales. The largest price increase happened in Gatineau (17 per cent) Montreal (12 per cent) and Sherbrooke (10 per cent). Outside these cities, prices are trending even higher. Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts saw the average price go up 49 per cent since last year’s Q2.

In total, 22,102 residential sales transactions were concluded, a significant drop of 24 per cent since second quarter of last year when sales were at their highest level in fourteen years. In response to the pause in Quebec’s real estate market in the second quarter, market conditions stabilized in the vast majority of areas and continue to give sellers the upper hand.

“Although significant, this decline was offset by a strong rebound in June,” said Julie Saucier, president and chief executive officer of the QPAREB. “This market resilience was particularly evident in agglomerations located outside the province’s CMAs, where close to 4,300 sales transactions were recorded, an increase of 4 per cent in the second quarter, despite a 41 per cent drop in new listings,” she adds. “In the context of the health crisis, the Laurentides administrative region is one of the peripheral areas of the Montreal CMA that saw a sharp increase in prices.”