The contemporary world circumstances have disturbed the lives of millions of people around the world during last year and at the beginning of this year. Some countries are still trying to control this dangerous virus by forcing several economic lockdowns and imposing different social-distancing measures, resulting in a massive increase in unemployment.

All of these factors will indeed negatively affect the housing markets, including thousands of homeowners in Montreal and in the province of Quebec.
With that being said, it has become more interesting to look into how the Quebec real estate market has somehow remained unfazed in light of these difficult circumstances. Based on recent data collected and shared by the Centris system of Quebec real estate brokers, the sales in the province of different residential properties have increased by 38% in the 4th Quarter of 2020 and by 16% in the last 4 quarters of the same year. The median sale price was quite positive in the last 4 quarters in condominiums (Up by 11%) and single-family homes (Up by 13%), however, in plexes between 2 to 5 units it remained steady with 0 increase.

Read also: Will the momentum in the real estate market continue in 2021?

Quebec’s real estate market is not the only one to have experienced a significant drop in the number of condominium’s property listed, the Montreal condominium’s active listings has also continued decreasing in October, November, and December from last year by -48% due to the sellers being hesitant to list during this pandemic. Existing, single-family home sales totaled 2,586 in the 4th Quarter of 2020, and 9,799 in the last 4 quarters of the same year. While the sales of plexes between 2 to 5 units increased significantly in several areas of Montreal.
Some may say that Montreal’s market is heading towards the same housing bubbles that Toronto was experiencing two and a half years ago. For now, the risks remain relatively low. This shows that only a huge economic collapse would be able to destabilize Montreal’s real estate.

It is more likely that some of the decreases in both the Montreal and Quebec real estate market were due to sellers not listing their properties, because of the given circumstances. It can also be a result of a sudden difference between a sale and its closing; when prices start to fall before closing a deal, the homeowners might regret the sale, and the buyers will believe that they were charged unreasonably more.
The financial markets will not probably be able to extend credit, hence it will prevent most sales from closing, and if it happens many buyers will not be able to sell their current residences so it may limit their ability to buy in the nearest future.

Read also: What will 2021 bring to the real estate market?

The Quebec real estate predictions should be extremely reliable and accurate If the current situation persists in 2021, it would be ideal to gather the most recent data to settle on a reliable and efficient direction that the Quebec real estate agencies might need to adapt in order to evolve over the next few months of this year.