The Greater Montreal Real Estate Board says residential sales rose eight per cent in September, compared to the same month last year, with condominiums making up the bulk of the increase. The 3,220 home sales represent a nine-year high for the month of September.
The median price of single-family homes hit $336,000, up seven per cent year-over-year. Duplexes and similar multi-unit dwellings jumped six per cent to $504,000, while condos climbed four per cent to $263,000.
Sales have been increasing for 43 months straight, said real estate board president Nathalie Begin.
Mortgage stress tests and higher interest rates imposed over the past year haven't dampened Montreal's real estate market, even as sales have slowed in Vancouver and Toronto.
In Vancouver, year-over-year sales dropped from February through August. A 20 per cent foreign buyers' tax, a heightened education tax on $3-million-plus properties and a proposed speculation tax have all put the brakes on home-buying, said Brad Henderson, chief executive of Sotheby's International Realty Canada.