Montreal housing for sale.Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail
Montreal's housing market saw a drop in sales in August, while prices were in a holding pattern.
Home sales in the Montreal census metropolitan area fell 6 per cent in August from a year earlier, to 2,234, according to the latest report from the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board.
The median price of a single-family home in the Montreal area remained stable compared to a year ago at $285,000.
The median price for condos was off by 1 per cent at $230,150, the first drop in 8 months for the category.
The fall in overall sales followed increases of 3 per cent and 2 per cent chalked up in June and July, respectively, the board said on Monday.
Most striking in the latest batch of numbers is the 11-per-cent fall-off in condo sales in August after a 13-per-cent surge in July, Diane Ménard, the board's vice-president, said.
Single-family home sales fell 3 per cent, the report says.
Montreal is in stark contrast to Toronto's still hot market, where the average selling price in August was $546,303, up 8.9 per cent from a year ago.
Transactions were up 2.8 per cent compared with the year-earlier period.
Preliminary data from Vancouver and Calgary indicate continued rising prices in their respective residential markets.
Bertrand Marotte