“Marriages and nuptiality”.
The Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ) managed to capture my attention on Monday by publishing a detailed study on the subject of marriages.
We learn that 4 out of 10 Quebec couples chose Saturday to get married last year. Also: that August 12 was the most popular date to say “I do.”
(There were 739 marriages that day, you are now informed.)
More fundamentally, the ISQ report confirms a major trend that has been going on for decades: Quebecers are getting married less and less. And they are doing so later and later.
There were 22,700 marriages last year, about 200 fewer than the year before. To give you an idea, there were 50,000 in the early 1970s, when Quebec’s population was much smaller.
Why should I be interested in the wedding thing?
Because it is closely linked to the way we inhabit – and build – our cities. How we will buildAbove all.
People are getting together less and, as a result, are living more and more alone. Quebec is even the Canadian champion in this regard.1.
Some 19% of Quebecers live alone, according to a Statistics Canada study. This is much more than in Ontario (12%) and in the country as a whole (15%).
I spoke to three major real estate developers, active in different market segments, to understand the impact of this demographic trend in the design of their projects.
Short answer: he is an adult.
This is largely due to the lower ability of single people to pay than that of a couple.
“What we see in the projects we deliver is that one-bedroom units are by far the most sought-after, whether in downtown Montreal, Mascouche or Laval,” explained George Armoyan Jr. of NexArm Investments, which has several construction sites underway at the moment.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Most of the 700 apartments in the Le George residential tower (centre in the photo) have just one bedroom.
This reconfiguration of demand is reflected in the composition of the buildings. In the Le George building, a 46-storey rental tower recently opened by NexArm next to the Bell Centre, the “vast majority” of the 700 units have a single bedroom.
Another major project, led by the Rachel Julien group in the Montreal district of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, demonstrates the rise of single-family households.
The Canoë project will be an example of extreme diversity: there will be social housing, traditional apartments, condos, a grocery store, a childcare center… Some 900 residential units in total. Massive.
The presence of single people is not new, underlines the group’s general manager, Mélanie Robitaille. But what has changed radically in recent years is the marked increase in construction costs for real estate projects.
The bill always ends up being passed on to consumers, which will also be the case here.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY RACHEL JULIEN
Outline of the Canoë project, which will include 900 units in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough
Rachel Julien will try a new tactic to allow single people to buy a (small) condo in the second phase of her project. She will offer “types” of two-bedroom units, actually consisting of a real bedroom and a second small semi-open room.
Net area: around 580 square feet.
Everything has been thought out, from the size of the appliances to the possibility of Murphy beds, to maximize space.
And wait for the rest…
“The only reason I do it is not to attract families, because there is very little logic in having a child in a backlit room. [semi-fermée]but it’s to imagine a concept where you have a roommate,” explains Mélanie Robitaille.
So you buy a condo, which is probably too expensive for you to afford, but it gives you a foot in the door of the real estate market by having a roommate.
Mélanie Robitaille, from the group Rachel Julien
The price gap between one- and two-bedroom apartments is “huge,” the developer concedes. One-bedrooms will sell for an average of $300,000 before taxes ($345,000), compared to $430,000 before taxes ($494,000) for two-bedrooms.
Not within everyone’s budget, especially when you’re the only one paying.
In another price register, a vast social housing project, piloted by Mission Unitaînés, will also focus on a solo clientele. The non-profit organization is currently building 10 identical buildings of 100 housing units each in 10 Quebec cities.
About 85% of the units will be studios or “three and a half” apartments, intended for low-income seniors. “Our buildings are made for people who live alone,” Caroline Sauriol, CEO of this organization, told me.
A reflection of demographic reality, in short.
All these projects rely on a fairly high density, intended to accommodate a maximum number of occupants as close as possible to services. This is the major trend in the development of cities, despite the fierce resistance of several elected officials and citizens.
With household sizes shrinking and prices constantly rising, this shift towards densification will probably have to accelerate.
1. Read the article “Living alone is gaining popularity in Quebec”