How’s the market: June & July 2010

Catching up with the market updates. August’s market report is not out yet, and while we wait for the new numbers, here is a quick review on how the previous months performed: In terms of sales and active listings, the months of June and July were quite similar.

Compared to 2009, both months had a decrease in sales.

June’s total sales were down by 19%, while July’s decrease was 26%.
There was also a decrease of the active listings during these two months: 10% less for June and July followed with -7%.

Regardless of the slow market, the median prices of went up.

In June, median prices for Single Family Homes, Condos and Plexes* increased by 8%.
July median prices shows an increase of 5% for Single Family Homes, 8% for condos and 9% for Plexes*

* Plexes (2 to 5 dwellings)

View the complete reports: June 2010 | July 2010. Source: GMREB

The Main’s high vacancy rate

Back in April, I took some pictures of The Main between Sherbrooke and Pins, and I noticed the abundance of empty office/store spaces in the area. Clothing stores like American Apparel, and the infamous MAC cosmetics store are now gone.(The horror!)

The Shed Cafe has been replaced by McGibbings Pub (double horror), and a few of quebec-designer boutiques have vanished from the street.

Makes you wonder: what the heck is going on? Why is everyone leaving?
The first few reasons that came to mind were: Rents are too high, or maybe the business taxes have sky rocketed? Not enough traffic in winter=Low sales.
Or could have been because of the repeated amount of work done on the street (sewers, new side walk, you name it- they’ve done it)

Well, as it turns out, it has been a combination of all the above.

Recently, La Presse published an article on it where Anabelle Nicoud covers the factors involved in the downward slope of the Main. In her article “Quand la Main décline: après le clinquant, le vide”, Mme Nicole explains the reasons behind the high vacancy rate in the Main:

“Les travaux se sont non seulement étirés en longueur, mais leur fin a coïncidé avec le début de la récession. Martin Delisle, de la boutique Blank, dit avoir observé, comme d’autres commerçants, une baisse de 30% de son chiffre d’affaires cette année. Malgré tout, les impôts fonciers ont augmenté et les loyers restent souvent inabordables.”

Read the complete article at La Presse

Investing in Montreal: What is the next trendy district ?

Another good video blog-post by McGill Real Estate Blog. Patrice Groleau explains the main differences between the East and West areas of Montreal, and why it is better to consider investing on the west side. Here is the video. Enjoy!

Condos for less than 100K?

Recently one of my readers asked me if there was still condos available for less than $100,000.
I don’t often come across properties within this price range, but for the sake of knowing what you can get for that price, I did a quick search and found that:

• Homes for less than 100k are often mobile homes.
• Condos are still available, but they are quite small and in need of major renovations.

The condos found under this criteria were mostly found on the east end (R.D.P/ P.A.T), some others in Ahuntsic and one in Côte-des-Neiges. Here is a compiled list of the properties available (PDF file), these properties are listed with different brokers.
Not all the properties have many images, but it gives you an idea of what you can get for that amount of money in today’s market.

Our team in the News: McGill Immobilier and the Montreal Condo Market

Échos Montréal, Old Montreal local paper, issued an article last month about new construction condos and the McGill Real Estate Team. The article discusses the Condo market in Montreal, and the facts that makes the condo market still a favorable choice for buyers.

If you don’t know about McGill Immobilier, we are a boutique agency that specializes in Marketing and Selling New Condo Projects. The first one of its kind in Montreal.

You can find a copy of the article in here. It’s written in French.

We had also a group shot that came out fabulous! Although not all of the agents were present, in this picture you can get to know then team a little.? The names are given at the bottom of the image. And they misspelled mine.

Can you guess where I am in the picture?

Old Montreal building: now for sale by the City of montreal

I’ve been following the progress on the new look of this building. First it was this abandoned front, then the make-up crew came into action, with a beautiful new cover .
Before I even got the chance to write about the airbrush design on the new cover of 22-26 Notre Dame ouest, there was a new sign on it.

“A vendre par appel d’offres publiques”

So now the city is taking offers for this building, or whatever is left of it.
I made a call to see what the starting bid was at, and what I got is the following info: Read more >>

Friday Morning Market News

photo: Deya Bautista

• Home building across Canada is expected to fall back this year by 25%. [Globe and Mail]
• In Montreal, resale home prices are not expected to drop as much as the rest of the country. [CEP News]
• Housing Projects in Montreal had a fantastic “Open house weekend” with 6682 visits in total. [La Presse]

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