Sales fell in July and inventory is now 9% above its historical average for the month
Greater Montreal's residential market extended its contraction in July. The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers' (QPAREB) Centris system recorded 3,338 sales last month, a 10% drop from the 3,709 transactions completed in the same month a year earlier.
The result marked the fifth consecutive monthly decline and the sharpest single-month pullback since February.
Every property category and every major geographic sector of the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) recorded a year-over-year decline, extending a pattern that had already prompted concern among analysts tracking Canada's cooling Quebec housing corridor.
New listings in July totalled 5,260, up 4.1% year-over-year. That pushed active inventory to 19,790 units, 17% above July 2025 levels and 9% above the historical average for the month.
The supply surge was sharpest in the condominium segment, where listings rose 20% from a year earlier. Plexes followed at +14%, with single-family homes adding 13%.
Prices hold, but time on market stretches
Despite weakening demand, median prices continued to rise across all property types. Plexes led gains with a 6.1% increase to $865,000.
Single-family homes rose 4% to a median of $650,000, while condominiums edged 1.5% higher to $431,500.
Selling timelines lengthened for most properties. Single-family homes averaged 38 days on market — three days more than July 2025 — while condominiums took 55 days, a nine-day increase.
Plexes were the exception, with average selling time falling eight days to 46 days.
Camille Laberge, assistant director of the QPAREB Market Analysis Department in Montreal, said the condo supply pressures that first concentrated in central Island of Montreal neighbourhoods are now radiating outward.
"Supply is now increasing more quickly in the island's less central neighbourhoods, as well as on the South Shore, in Laval and on the North Shore," Laberge said.
The GTA housing market tightened in July as new listings fell sharply. Daniel Steinfeld and Jason Mercer of the Toronto Regional Real Estatehttps://t.co/3nwb5k2ZIx
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) August 6, 2026
Immigration shift reshapes demand outlook
QPAREB senior economist Hélène Bégin tied the market's trajectory to forces beyond the property cycle.
"This broad-based slowdown in Greater Montreal's residential real estate market is unfolding in a fragile economic environment and alongside a demographic shift. Stricter immigration rules are now contributing to a decline in the population of the Montreal CMA, which inevitably tempers demand across housing types," Bégin said.
That pressure is being felt nationally. Canada's tightened immigration policies have been identified as a structural risk to housing demand by RBC Economics, with slower population growth expected to reduce mortgage origination volumes in major urban markets.
Bank of Montreal (BMO) senior economist Sal Guatieri has previously noted that lower immigration "will be a bit of a dampener on consumer spending and, of course, the housing markets and rental markets for a little while."
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