Since Alec Raffa started his real estate career four years ago with Royal LePage, he’s seen a steep rise in house prices. His recent listing on Nun’s Island is just shy of $1,000,000. “The supply is nowhere near where the demand is at this time,” he said. New figures released from Centris show the lack of supply is having an impact on the market: the average home in price in Montreal is now $1,008,234, an increase of 42 per cent since 2020. Raffa said it’s important to put that number in context. “A lot of people tend to panic when they hear prices are over one million,” he said. “But the Montreal market still remains quite affordable when you compare it to those of Toronto and Vancouver.” While price in those cities stagnated and even slumped last year, Montreal home prices rose by 7 per cent. Lower mortgage rates are also having an impact, according to Rise Mortgage’s Brad Weigensberg. “The average mortgage rate for the last four months has been settling somewhere around 4.09 per cent to 4.29 per cent,” he said. “We currently have some specials with some lenders on insured purchases at 3.69 per cent or conventional deals at 3.99, which are rates that have not really been heard of over the last six months.” Some neighbourhoods around Montreal, including Outremont, Westmount and Downtown have long surpassed the million-dollar home price mark. But suburbs are catching up, with many single-family homes approaching that price. Those high price tags are forcing first-time home buyers to get creative, according to Raffa. “They’re borrowing money or they’re getting gifts from their parents. Or, you see several friends that are going in on the same home,” he said, adding that parents who own property have benefitted from the 40 per cent increase in the last five years. The good news is that there are still many homes on the market below $1 million. The mean price in Greater Montreal remains around $800,000, but it’s still a seller’s market and buyers will have to make some compromises, including adding a commute. While Montreal’s average home price did hit the million-dollar mark once in 2024, analysts expect this trend will continue and may become the new normal as demand continues to outstrip supply.
