By Robert Frank
www.thesuburban.com
The steam escaped from Laval’s hitherto hotly sought-after condominium market last month, making Île Jésus an outlier in the region’s residential realty rebound.
“We just witnessed the best month of September since 2011, in terms of residential sales,” Greater Montreal Real Estate Board (GMREB) vice-chairman Diane Ménard said in a statement.
However, Laval saw its sales figures head in the opposite direction. They sank by 9 per cent here during the month of September, compared to the same month a year ago, GMREB reported, Oct. 7.
Until last month, Laval residential real estate had long defied economic gravity, outpacing sales and price performance throughout overall Montreal region—including the North Shore, South Shore and Vaudreuil-Soulanges areas.
The fall flattened figures for total sales for the first three quarters of 2014. Overall, the number of condominium sales in Laval so far this year rose by 2 per cent, which dragged Laval back into line with sales in neigbouring areas.
The adjustment had a slightly smaller impact on median condo prices, which fell 7 per cent in September from $228,000 in 2013 to $212,000 in 2014. That lowered the increase in the median condo price for the year-to-date to 2 per cent, also in lockstep with the overall Montreal region’s growth since Jan 1.
Single-family homes fared better in September. GMREB reported a 10 per cent jump in sales, accompanied by a 3 per cent increase in median price to $289,000. Laval’s single-family numbers were slightly behind of the region’s 11 per cent jump in sales but ahead of its 2 per cent rise in median price to $283,750 in September.
For the year so far, Laval’s single-family dwelling sales were off by 1 per cent, though prices eased higher by 1 per cent, the same amount as the overall Montreal region, where the number sales fell by 2 per cent.
