These Montreal realtors say it's time to buy or sell your home

Interest rates may still be high, but some Montreal real estate agents say you should think about buying or selling your home now.

“If you're ready to buy, I would definitely say now is a great time,” said Engel & Völkers real estate broker Sara Kaplan. “It's been very difficult to deal with buyers in 2020, 2021 (with so many offers). It's not fun for buyers. So if you're in the buying market, now is a great time before things change direction.”

Firas Trabulsi, RE/MAX real estate agent, says there are always pros and cons to buying or selling at any time — whether it's higher interest rates and lower home prices or lower rates and higher prices.

“I've had a couple, maybe six buyers, who weren't planning to buy this year, but they were very concerned that we're going to go back to the trade wars and everything,” he told CTV News.

Interest rates are stabilizing

Interest rates have risen sharply in 2023, but analysts predict they will begin to decline in 2024.

Engel & Völkers real estate broker Tamar Chuzhunyan explains, “Securing the right property for your family at the current interest rate, then think about a short-term mortgage.” “When it comes time to renew, (you) will benefit from these lower projected rates in the future.”

He cites an example: Instead of taking out a five-year fixed mortgage (with a locked-in interest rate) or a five-year variable mortgage (with an interest rate that fluctuates with the market), a buyer can choose a two-year loan. will update when expiration and rates drop.

Trabulsi says he's seeing early signs of people willing to flood the market when rates drop.

“Some of them (buyers) are already making moves: We want to buy before interest rates go down,” he told CTV News. “They're worried that if we have the first interest rate adjustment, a lot of buyers will jump into the market and we'll be back in a seller's market.”

The market is smaller

“It's not competitive,” Kaplan explains. “It's not competitive in the second half of 2024 when interest rates really start to come down, which is the forecast from mortgage brokers we've spoken to.”

Is it worth buying now? According to Kaplan, people don't compete in multiple-offer situations.

“You can find the property you really want and even negotiate a price, which is something you won't be able to do in the future,” Kaplan said. “We've seen this trend in 2020, 2021, where there are a lot more bid situations and a lot more competition.”

Trabulsi agrees, remembering a property he once sold for $250,000 over the asking price.

“I had buyers who wanted to buy, so they were willing to make crazy offers,” he recalls. “Prices are lower than last year, negotiations have started again. I had several transactions last month where we were able to negotiate $30,000 to $40,000 over the asking price.”

This is good news for buyers, but not for sellers.

“The sellers, right now, when I meet with them and prepare an appraisal on the property and it's $50,000 less than what their neighbor sold for last year, they're not happy,” he said. “They expected $800,000, and I tell them, 'You're lucky if you get $750,000.'”

Demand is balanced

The word real estate agents are using right now to describe 2024 is “balanced,” meaning neither a seller's nor a buyer's market.

“I think we're headed for a more balanced market,” Trabulsi said. “The market is still very active… If we have a lot of inventory coming to market in the coming months or next year, I think we'll find ourselves in a buyer's market, which means prices will move.” ended, the negotiations will be aggressive.”

Agents noted that one of the biggest concerns for buyers and sellers remains interest rates.

“I think there's a lot of concern about interest rates, which has been a theme over the last few years,” Kaplan said. “I think a lot of buyers were hesitant to get into the market in 2023 because they didn't know if interest rates were going to go up or not.”

He says that now the situation seems to have stabilized and he sees that the hesitation has disappeared.

“It's the same for sellers. They probably hesitated to list their properties in 2023 because interest rates were so much higher and buyers couldn't get what they could afford in 2021 and 2020,” Kaplan said. “With lower interest rates now, sellers are more likely to put properties on the market, and we've seen that in the first month of 2024 — a lot more listings coming to market.” Sellers can. to get the grades they want.”

Moving back to the city center

One trend agents have noticed is that people who moved to the suburbs and beyond during the COVID-19 pandemic are now moving back downtown.

“It's a funny phenomenon that we're seeing, people are coming and moving back downtown,” Chujunian said. “Plateau has always been very popular. It speaks to many demographics: families, professionals; it has a lot to offer as a neighborhood. Sud-Ouest is always booming.”

Trabulsi says that this movement is due to the fact that the workers were invited to the office.

“When you drive an hour, an hour and a half to go downtown Montreal, you think twice about it,” he said.

Reality check

According to the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) housing barometer, home sales in 2023 are down 13 percent across the province compared to 2022.

Montreal saw a 28 percent increase in active listings, but a 14 percent decline.

However, in January 2024, residential sales in Montreal increased by 18 percent compared to the same period last year, but it remains below the historical average.

“The strong sales performance at the start of the year is due to an encouraging outlook for interest rates,” explains Charles Brant, director of market analysis at QPAREB. “As of the end of 2023, economists agree that the cycle of rising interest rates is over and the reversal process should begin in 2024.”

The most popular places people shopped in January? On the South Coast, 541 transactions increased by 36 percent compared to January last year.

North Shore (519 sales), Laval (200 sales) and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (58 sales) saw increases of 19 percent, 18 percent, and 14 percent, respectively.

Montreal Island (679 sales) and Vaudreuil-Soulanges (80 sales) were up eight percent and one percent.

QPAREB active listings also increased significantly, up 16% from a year ago across all property categories.

The average time to sell condos was 77 days, while it was 65 days for single-family homes.

In contrast to the overall median price in 2023, median home prices fell by two percent for single-family homes and one percent for condos, with prices increasing in January.

That is, five percent for condominiums, seven percent for single-family houses and seven percent for complexes compared to the same period last year.