Buying a property with a “minibudget”

Is it still possible to become a homeowner in a big city in Quebec with a budget of less than $200,000? Only one city still displays a decent number of possibilities.

Despite the revision of real estate prices over the past year, the major home sales platforms show a very limited number of options for those who have a limited budget to access property, observes a study published at the beginning of June by Point2, a publication specializing in real estate that covers trends in the sector and does various market studies.

Under $200,000, finding a rare pearl is almost impossible in Montreal, very difficult in the suburbs, and around 1% in the smallest towns. The phenomenon can be observed everywhere in Canada, except in the Prairies and the Maritimes, where more than 10% of the supply is still in this price range.

Heading for Quebec

In the province, all hope is not lost, but we will have to set sail for the capital. Quebec City has the highest number of houses under $200,000, with nearly 10% of the offer in the residential sector, compared to 1.89% in Gatineau, 0.86 % in Longueuil and 0.15% in Laval. The price of properties there is also the most affordable with an average of just over $310,000, one of the best in Canada.

In Greater Montreal, unless you are very flexible in your choice of neighborhood and fall back on very small areas to patch up, you will have to grieve before buying a property or wait until you have a budget that allows it.

Although the island has the highest number of properties for sale (4,900), only 19 (0.27%) were listed for less than $200,000 when the study was conducted.

An overview of the platforms of Centris (6), Du Proprio (0), Kijiji (0) and Publimaison (0) this week confirms this portrait with an even more disappointing result. It’s not 15, but 6 properties that were displayed under $200,000 on the island of Montreal, namely a mobile home on rented land, two studios and three small condos.