The average price of houses in Montreal exceeds the affordable level

Like many other major Canadian cities, the average home price in Montreal would be around 30-45% higher than its estimated affordability level in December 2021.

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This is according to the Property Price Assessment which was released Thursday by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) and which compares the price of properties according to the ability of households to borrow and pay for the purchase. of a house.

Home prices in most major census metropolitan areas (CMAs) were below or near affordable levels at the start of 2015, but the gap began to be felt in subsequent years and has increased sharply since the COVID pandemic. -19.

“During this period, the increase in population was significantly greater than the number of dwellings built, suggesting that supply did not keep up with demand and put upward pressure on the price. properties”, is it possible to read in the report.

Nationally, the average property price was $811,700 at the end of 2021, which is 43% more than in December 2019 and 97% more than in January 2015.

Compared to other cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax and Vancouver, home prices in Montreal “were ‘only’ 7% above affordable levels” between January 2015 and December 2019, according to the PBO.

And since the start of the health crisis, the gap has widened in most of the CMAs examined, particularly in metropolitan Quebec where prices are nearly 30% to 45% above the affordable level as of December 2021.

An estimate that is also observed in the average price of properties in Vancouver and Victoria, while the amount was 50% higher for houses in Hamilton, Toronto, Halifax and Ottawa over the same period.

“Our results suggest that the financial vulnerability of households that have recently purchased a home is high in several cities and will deteriorate with rising interest rates,” said Yves Giroux, Parliamentary Budget Officer, in a press release.