L’Île-des-Sœurs, May 29, 2020 – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) has read the special edition of the Housing Market Outlook (HMO) published by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and shares its reactions and forecasts regarding Quebec’s real estate market.
“Conditions on the residential real estate market are tight enough to absorb, without any real damage, the wave of properties that we expect will be put on the market in the second half of the year,” said Charles Brant, director of the QPAREB’s Market Analysis Department. “Even though many homeowners working in sectors that are more severely affected by the pandemic will have no choice but to sell their property when government assistance and relief measures from financial institutions come to an end, the QPAREB anticipates that the situation will recover quickly enough so that market conditions remain in favour of sellers in many agglomerations,” said Mr. Brant.
The QPAREB reminds us that according to its base forecast scenario for the province as a whole, median prices are expected to fall between 2 and 4 per cent in 2020, depending on the property category. Quebec’s economy is expected to better withstand the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 crisis compared to the rest of Canada because it has diversified into sectors that are less sensitive to the crisis. In addition, Quebec’s public finances are in a better position to allow massive and sustainable investment in the construction/infrastructure sector, an important economic stabilizer. These are key factors for investor confidence, and for enabling households to be confident in the future.
Unlike real estate markets in western Canadian provinces, the Quebec market offers solid historical stability against all odds. The QPAREB believes that the price decreases that are forecast for 2020 in Quebec by the CMHC are overestimated, particularly in a context where prices are much lower.