The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says home sales in Montreal last month fell 39 per cent from a year earlier to a level not seen in December since 2014.

The real estate organization says sales for the month amounted to 2,232 and contributed to a 2022 sales total of 21,371, 20 per cent below 2021.

The board says it's typical for December to bring fewer sales and new listings, but the 2,359 properties that hit the Montreal market last month was a level not seen since 2002.

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New listings in the month represented a seven per cent decline from the year before, but 2022 still saw two per cent more new properties on the market than in 2021.

Median prices for single-family homes fell three per cent from the year before to $510,000, while condos edged down one per cent to $375,000 and plexes sank six per cent to $690,000.

Charles Brant, director of the association's market analysis department, says the figures reflect the market's "wait-and-see attitude."

"On the one hand, buyers are hoping that market conditions will improve in their favour. Sellers, on the other hand, are hoping for a stabilization of the market," he says, in a release. 

"Active listings continue to rise significantly due to a build-up effect, which could help to vindicate buyers in the coming months."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2023.