The Quebec Resale Market Remains Robust in the First Quarter Despite Unprecedented Uncertainty

/EIN News/ -- L’ÎLE-DES-SŒURS, Quebec, April 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) has just released its residential real estate market statistics for the province of Quebec, based on the real estate brokers’ Centris provincial database.

Province-wide residential sales totalled 24,070 in the first quarter of 2025, a relatively strong increase of 14 per cent compared to the same period last year. Transactional activity was thus 13 per cent higher than the first-quarter average, since Centris began compiling data in 2000.

“There was a steady growth in residential sales across the province in the first quarter. The market’s strength defied the sharp rise in economic uncertainty stemming from the dramatic shift in trade and diplomatic relations with the United States. It’s interesting to note that despite the historic drop in Quebec consumer confidence during this period, confidence in making a major purchase—such as a property—barely declined. This is, above all, a reflection of the renewed confidence of buyers in real estate as a safe haven in the Quebec market,” points out Charles Brant, QPAREB Market Analysis Director.

“Prices continued to rise rapidly in all property categories across the province, notably for small income properties in a context of lower interest rates. Half of all provincial single-family home sales in the first quarter were concluded above $485,000, a 13 per cent increase in the median price. This situation is the result of an overall downward trend in the number of active listings, particularly in the Quebec City market, leading to conditions of overheating reminiscent of the pandemic period. At the same time, we are seeing a growing market imbalance in favour of sellers in other CMAs and urban areas, including some resort markets. Against this backdrop of uncertainty, the situation needs to be closely monitored, as it could also reflect a certain reluctance on the part of homeowners to put their property on the market.”

Quarterly Highlights for the Province

Sales

• Sales by property category rose from between 13 per cent to 19 per cent from the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025. Plexes posted the largest increase at 19 per cent to reach 2,076 transactions. Condominiums followed with solid 15 per cent growth for a total of 6,492 sales, while single-family home sales rose by 13 per cent, with 15,444 transactions recorded.
• Among the Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs), Drummondville stood out with a 33 per cent surge in sales, growing twice as fast as the second- and third-place CMAs: Montreal (+15 per cent) and Gatineau (+14 per cent). In the Trois-Rivières, Quebec City and Sherbrooke CMAs, transactional activity grew at a more moderate pace, posting respective increases of 10 per cent, 5 per cent, and 4 per cent. However, the Saguenay CMA posted a 3 per cent decline in sales.
• Transactional activity was particularly robust in eight urban centres: Joliette (+38 per cent), Sorel-Tracy (+38 per cent), Rawdon (+39 per cent), Matane (+41 per cent), Rivière-du-Loup (+44 per cent), Alma (+45 per cent), Salaberry-de-Valleyfield (+52 per cent), and Victoriaville (+53 per cent). Other markets also performed well, including Saint-Georges (+24 per cent), Lachute (+24 per cent), Thetford Mines (+22 per cent), and Cowansville (+21 per cent).
• Modest gains were recorded in markets such as Mont-Tremblant (+4 per cent), La Tuque (+4 per cent), and Charlevoix (+3 per cent), while declines between 1 per cent and 26 per cent were observed in seven other markets, most notably in Baie-Comeau (-26 per cent), Shawinigan (-13 per cent), and Rouyn-Noranda (-12 per cent).

Active Listings

• The number of properties available for sale in the province decreased during the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2024. Active listings dropped to a total of 34,479 properties, down by 4 per cent. Inventory continued to trend below the historical average for this time of year, with 48,355 fewer listings than usual (-29 per cent).
  

Median Prices

• In the 2025 first quarter, the provincial median price for single-family homes reached $485,000, up 10 per cent compared to the same period last year.
• For condominiums, the median price climbed to $390,000, marking a 7 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.
• The median price for small income properties reached $625,000, a much sharper increase than the other two categories, jumping by 20 per cent between the first quarters of 2024 and 2025.
• The real estate market remained very tight across the province, with a resurgence of overheating in certain regions where the significant imbalance between sales and new listings persists—and even appears to be worsening—leading to more and more cases of overbidding. This situation affects all CMAs, but is especially pronounced in Quebec City, and, to a lesser extent, in Trois-Rivières and the Saguenay. In this context, median price growth is accelerating, effectively cancelling out the positive impact of lower interest rates on homeownership.

Market Conditions

• Across the province, the number of months required to sell the inventory of residential properties on the market in the first quarter of 2025 remained at levels that favoured sellers, as they continued to drop compared to the same period last year. As a result, the number of months required to sell the inventory, all categories combined, fell to 4.6 months. For first quarters between 2000 and 2024, it took an average of 8 months to clear the inventory.
  

Selling Times

• During the first quarter of 2025, the average selling time fell very slightly in all three property categories. For the first time in 25 years, all three market categories posted the same drop of 2 days compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Average selling times were 62 days for single-family homes, 60 days for condominiums, and 81 days for small income properties.
  

Quarterly Highlights for the Regions

Montreal CMA

• Residential sales reached 11,847 transactions in the first quarter of 2025, marking a 15 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. This level of activity is comparable to the historical average for a first quarter.
• Active listings in the Montreal metropolitan area experienced a moderate 3 per cent decline compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024, mainly due to a significant drop in plex listings (-16 per cent), and to a lesser extent, single-family homes (-7 per cent). Condominium listings, however, rose slightly by 4 per cent. The number of months required to sell the inventory (all categories combined) marginally dropped to 4.5 months.
• The growth in median prices in the different property categories was similar between the first quarters of 2024 and 2025. The median price for single-family homes increased by 8 per cent to $600,500, condominiums rose by 6 per cent to $420,000, and the median price for plexes grew by 7 per cent to $800,000.
  

Quebec City CMA

• The Quebec City CMA recorded 2,711 residential sales during the first quarter of 2025, up 5 per cent compared to the same period in 2024. Sales were 18 per cent higher than the historical average for this period of the year and ranks as the fifth highest since 2000.
• Active listings in the first three months of the year dropped significantly compared with the same period in 2024 (-31 per cent), down to 1,996 listings—the lowest level in 25 years. All property categories saw notable declines, with decreases of 28 per cent for single-family homes, 38 per cent for condominiums, and 29 per cent for plexes. In this context, the number of months required to sell the inventory (all property types combined) fell to 2.7 months, the lowest first-quarter level since 2000.
• The rise in median prices in all three market categories was also substantial, compared to the same period last year, with increases of 19 per cent for single-family homes ($435,000), 17 per cent for condominiums ($305,000), and 30 per cent for plexes ($507,500). Notably, the 2025 first-quarter median price for plexes was twice as high as the historical average for this period, while the price of single-family homes has nearly reached the same level.
  

Gatineau CMA

• The Gatineau CMA posted 1,057 transactions in the first quarter of 2025, a 14 per cent jump compared to the same quarter in 2024, thus returning to the pre-pandemic level of the 2019 first quarter. Moreover, this marks the strongest increase for this time of year since 2021. Activity levels exceeded the historical average for a first quarter by 7 per cent.
• Active listings in the Gatineau CMA declined by 9 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period a year earlier, due mainly to decreases of 13 per cent for single-family homes and 15 per cent for plexes. All three property categories posted between 21 per cent and 47 per cent below their respective historical averages. Nevertheless, at 3.6 months, the number of months required to sell the inventory (all categories combined) remained virtually unchanged from last year’s equivalent quarter. This absorption rate is still well below the historical average of 6.8 months for a first quarter.
• The median price for single-family homes reached $495,000 in the first quarter of 2025, up by 9 per cent compared to the same period in 2024, while condominiums, with a median price of $310,000, registered no growth. Small income properties posted a median price of $551,500, which marks a 7 per cent increase. The median prices for both single-family homes and plexes have more than doubled compared to their respective first quarter historical averages.
  

Sherbrooke CMA

• Residential sales totalled 584 transactions in the first quarter of 2025, a modest 4 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024. Transactional activity was 7 per cent above the historical average for this time of year and 9 per cent higher than the pre-pandemic level in 2019.
• Active listings in the Sherbrooke CMA remained virtually unchanged from the first quarter of 2024, due to stable levels for single-family homes (+1 per cent), and a trade-off between the 12 per cent increase in condominiums and the 14 per cent decrease in plexes. As a result, the number of months required to sell the inventory (all categories combined) declined slightly to 4.2 months. This level remains nearly 50 per cent below the historical average for a first quarter (8.3 months).
• Between the first quarter of 2024 and that of 2025, changes in the median price by property category ranged from -1 per cent to +12 per cent. The median price for single-family homes reached $450,500, up 12 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. Condominiums, with a median price of $303,000, posted a modest 1 per cent decline—the first drop for this time of year in four years. Small income properties posted a median price of $465,000, reflecting a 6 per cent increase. It should be noted that pressure on median prices remains strong, given that they have more than doubled for single-family homes and plexes compared to the pre-pandemic levels of the 2019 first quarter.
  

Trois-Rivières CMA

• The Trois-Rivières CMA recorded 399 residential sales in the first quarter of 2025, a 10 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024. This number of transactions ranks as the third highest ever recorded for this time of year.
• Active listings rose by a modest 3 per cent compared with the same quarter last year. Listings for single-family homes grew by 4 per cent, while condominiums jumped by 16 per cent. The plex category, however, posted a significant 12 per cent decline. The number of months required to sell the inventory (all categories combined) remained at 2.5 months, no change from the same period in 2024. This is 4.4 months below the historical average for this time of year.
• The median price for single-family homes rose by 13 per cent to $383,000 in the first quarter of 2025 compared to that of 2024, while that of condominiums increased 12 per cent to $273,500. Finally, the median price of small income properties jumped by a substantial 42 per cent to $392,750, the strongest first-quarter growth since 2000.
  

Saguenay CMA

• There were 331 residential sales in the Saguenay CMA during the first quarter of 2025, a 3 per cent decline compared to the same period in 2024 when activity had been particularly strong (+25 per cent in transactions). This represents a return to normalcy in the market. Although this level of activity is below the historical average for a first quarter, the difference remains relatively minor, with only 28 fewer sales.
  
• Active listings were down 19 per cent compared to the 2024 first quarter, due to declines in all three property categories—especially in single-family homes, which accounted for more than 75 per cent of active listings during the first three months of the year. The number of months required to sell the inventory dropped from 4.4 months to 3.6 months between the first quarters of 2024 and 2025 (all categories combined).
• The median price of single-family homes rose by 18 per cent to $330,000 in the first quarter of 2025. Plexes posted an 8 per cent increase, bringing the median price to $295,000. Over the past 25 years, only the single-family home median price has more than doubled compared to its historical average.

Drummondville CMA

• Residential sales in the Drummondville CMA reached 265 transactions in the first quarter of 2025, a sharp 33 per cent increase compared to the same period one year earlier. This marks the second-highest level of transactional activity for this time of year, since data was first compiled for this CMA in 2007.
• Active listings declined during the first quarter compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024, falling by 14 per cent to 317 properties on the market. This decrease follows three consecutive years of significant increases from 2022 to 2024 for this same period. The drop is primarily due to fewer listings of single-family homes (-38 listings) and, to a lesser extent, plexes (-9 listings) and condominiums (-5 listings). The number of months required to sell the inventory (all categories combined) thus fell slightly to 4.3 months.
• The median price of single-family homes in the Drummondville CMA reached $384,500 in the first quarter of 2025, up 11 per cent compared to 2024.
  

First Quarter 2025 Data

Please consult the Barometer – Residential Market to view Q1 2025 data.

Additional information:

Detailed and cumulative monthly statistics for the province and regions

If you would like additional information from the Market Analysis Department, such as specific data or regional details on the real estate market, please write to us.

About the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers

The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) is a non-profit association that brings together more than 15,000 real estate brokers and agencies. It is responsible for promoting and defending their interests while taking into account the issues facing the profession and the various professional and regional realities of its members. The QPAREB is also a major player in many real estate dossiers, including the implementation of measures that promote homeownership. The Association reports on Québec’s residential real estate market statistics, provides training, tools and services relating to real estate, and facilitates the collection, dissemination and exchange of information. The QPAREB has its head office in Quebec City, administrative offices in Montreal and a regional office in Saguenay. It has two subsidiaries: Société Centris inc. and the Collège de l’immobilier du Québec. Follow its activities at qpareb.ca or via its social media pages: Facebook, LinkedIn, X and Instagram.

For more information:
Ariane Boulé
Morin Relations Publiques
media@qpareb.ca

Image bank (credit QPAREB) available free of charge.