Will the increase in rents in Montreal really be 5%?

In an interview with Véronique Dubé from Noovo Info MontréalCédric Dussault, spokesman for the regrouping of housing committees and tenant associations of Quebec (RCLALQ) explains that new housing must be included in the calculation to see the representativeness of the average increase in rental prices of a municipality.

“Based on CMHC figures, we note that the average increase in Quebec is between 10% and 12%,” he adds.

Source: RCLALQ

Source: RCLALQ

Cédric Dussault also notices that there are some landlords who will justify rent increases for work that has not even been done and asks tenants to be vigilant.

Inevitable rent increase in Quebec

The housing authority allows an increase of 2.3%, but for Marc-André Plante, manager member of the corporation of real estate owners of Quebec, such an increase only happens in very rare cases.

“The 2.3% is without counting municipal tax increases, without major work and without counting the fact that there is a renovation deficit in Quebec. I would like to remind tenants that a 2.3% increase is in extremely rare cases. The increases are usually a bit higher.”

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For some regions, the increases will be explained by an unusual vacancy rate in new dwellings. The Minister of Municipal Affairs of Chicoutimi, Andrée Laforest, specifies that in her region, the construction of 15,000 housing units has been announced, but they have not yet been built.

“When we reach a normal vacancy rate, that is to say, around 3%, we will have to continue to invest,” she added.

In Montreal, the vacancy rate is around 3.8% for rents over $1,000 and varies between 0.9 and 1.3% for rents under $1,000 according to the Front d’action populaire en réménagement urban (FRAPRU).

According to Véronique Laflamme, the Legault government must largely finance the construction of new social housing as of its next budget.

“We leave people to their own fate. It does not make sense that we are there in Quebec because the investments have not been there, ”she adds.

For the mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante, “housing, currently, is an explosive cocktail”.

“Interest rates are high, construction costs are high and people are struggling to find housing,” she said.

She wants to be able to speed up the construction of housing on the island and stresses that she will continue to have conversations with the various partners of the city on this subject.

See Véronique Dubé’s full report in the video.