Montreal home sales down 18% from last July: Quebec real estate association

Montreal sales in July fell by 18% last year, with the plexes category alone seeing a 38% drop.

The association says sales for the month amounted to 3,080 compared with 3,772 last year, while homes with between two and five units plunged from 454 last July to 281 last month.

Charles Brant from the association's market analysis department interpreted the drop as confirmation that the market dynamic has shifted, largely because of a significant hike in the country's key interest rate.

Brant says the magnitude of the interest rate hike accelerated the market’s slowdown, but it is much more gradual than in other major Canadian cities.