By Robert Frank
www.thesuburban.com
Laval remains a seller’s market, according to the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board (GMREB).
Laval house price increases continued to outpace most of the Montreal region in January but—for the first time in months—North Shore housing posted a bigger increase than Laval.
GMREB released statistics for the month, showing that North Shore residential real estate prices were up 3.94 per cent, compared to January 2013.
Though it relinquished its perennial top spot, Laval was not far behind, still outpacing inflation with an increase of 3.66 per cent.
Only the South Shore came close, up 3.24 per cent over the same month a year before.
Residential house prices on Montreal Island, in contrast, remained stagnant, down about a quarter of a per cent, as the metropolis continues to wrestle with bloated budgets and crippling taxes, driven by decades of fiscal imprudence.
Likewise, Vaudreuil-Soulanges homes were down about a fifth of one per cent.
Condos fall from favour Laval remains a desirable destination for homebuyers fleeing Montreal. The city achieved its house price increase despite a five per cent drop in sales.
The North Shore, on the other hand, saw its prices driven upward by a four per cent increase in sales, the largest in the Montreal region, GMREB noted.
The demand for North Shore homes ran counter to a two per cent decline in sales in the Montreal region.
Though GMREB reported that sales of single-family homes remain stable, up one per cent for the month over January 2013, condominium sales fell four per cent during the same period, while plex homes of two-to-five units dropped eight per cent.
“The strong increase in the number of listings on the condominium market has been slowing, as the increase in January was the smallest since November 2010,” GMREB vice-chairwoman Diane Ménard said in a statement. “In addition, new condominium listings have decreased for a fourth consecutive month.”
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