Montreal families will be able to reimburse real estate transfer taxes (commonly known as “welcome tax”) more easily if Projet Montreal is renewed as mayor. Valérie Plante’s party promises to expand the Residential Acquisition Support Program (PAAR) to stimulate access to home ownership.
This program allows families who acquire a property to receive financial compensation from the City at the time of purchase. Depending on whether or not they have children and whether or not they are first acquiring them, households can receive a check ranging between $ 5,000 and $ 15,000.
Projet Montréal proposes to raise the ceiling price of homes eligible for the program by 15%.
For now, a childless couple who want to buy a first home can receive $ 5,000 if they pay less than $ 280,000 for their home. The new ceiling proposed by Projet Montréal would rise to $ 322,000.
For a family with children who already owns and wishes to receive financial assistance to acquire a larger home, the maximum price for the purchase of a single-family home or a plex is currently $ 630,000. The new ceiling price would be $ 725,000.
The program must respond “to the new reality of the market”, admitted Sunday the mayoress, Valérie Plante, by press release. “The pandemic has turned the real estate market upside down, resulting in both rapidly rising resale prices and rising costs for new construction. For the year 2020 alone, the price of houses in the greater Montreal area has indeed increased by 13.2% according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The PAAR was last modernized in 2018 to honor an election promise from Projet Montréal. Robert Beaudry, responsible for housing for this party, notes that “the program had not been changed for ten years before we came to power.” This overhaul had raised the “ridiculously low ceilings” and had included families who were already owners in search of a new residence.
The pandemic has turned the real estate market upside down, resulting in both rapidly rising resale prices and rising costs for new construction
Nearly 1,800 families per year benefited from this financial boost between June 2018 and April 2021, according to data from Projet Montréal. This is a 75% increase over the previous version of the program. The amounts awarded have also climbed over the past four years, from $ 3,500 to $ 5,600, on average. These results are on the other hand below the initial expectations of the party of Valérie Plante. The mayoress predicted at the start of her mandate that 3,500 families per year would benefit from this assistance.
“It’s a program that has been running at full speed,” observes Robert Beaudry, who expects these numbers to climb again. “It is certain that with the increases in property values in recent years, it quickly created a slowing effect. We said to ourselves, we’re not going to wait ten years. Housing has been placed as a priority. We want programs that can adapt and meet the needs of households. “
Denis Coderre’s party, Ensemble Montreal, does not see this promise in the same light. “Under the Plante administration, we reached a record for the exodus of families to the suburbs. They have stimulated urban sprawl, ”criticized housing spokesperson Karine Boivin Roy. “The acquisition assistance program must be completely reformed so that it is no longer simply a reimbursement of the ‘welcome tax’ which represents 2% of the sale price, but a real affordability program which makes it possible to ” have a significant effect on the ability of families to purchase property. “
If elected, Valérie Plante’s party intends to formalize these changes to the PAAR in January 2022.