Ownership rate | A first decline in 50 years

The rise in housing prices coincided with a decrease in access to property among Quebecers, according to the Institute of Statistics of Quebec.

First drop

The percentage of Quebecers who own their home has decreased in recent years, a first since 1971. This percentage went from 61.3% in 2016 to 59.9% in 2021, a change of -1.4%, according to 15^e edition of Panorama of Quebec regions, published Monday by the Institute of Statistics of Quebec (ISQ). This decrease occurred as property prices have seen a sharp increase since the start of the pandemic in Quebec. “The drop in the property rate was observed in all administrative regions, except Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, where no significant difference was detected. The decrease in the property rate exceeds 2 percentage points in the regions of Laval (-2.8%), Lanaudière (-2.4%) and Montérégie (-2.1%). » Between 2016 and 2021, the property rate in the Montreal region fell by 0.5%, notes the ISQ.

Tense situation

For Cédric Dussault, of the Regroupement des committees logement et associations de tenants du Québec (RCLALQ), the slowdown experienced in terms of access to property in Quebec is attributable to record housing prices, as well as to a lack affordable housing across the province. “It’s consistent with what we see on the ground,” he said. We are seeing an explosion in house prices outside major centers, as well as an explosion in rent prices. The fall in vacancy rates outside major centers also shows that the housing situation is tense throughout the province. » In Quebec, approximately six out of ten households own their home, while four out of ten are renters. In Montreal, this trend is reversed: approximately 60% are tenants, while 40% are owners.

Speculative spiral

Mr. Dussault notes that affordable housing problems go back a long way. “The federal government withdrew from financing social housing in the 1990s. We see the same thing more recently in Quebec with the abandonment of the AccèsLogis social housing construction program. What governments do instead is inject money into the private market. In fact, they do not facilitate access to housing, they contribute to a speculative spiral, because it becomes interesting for investors, but not for owner-occupiers. » The problem is particularly acute in Gaspésie and on the North Shore, where the construction of new housing is more expensive, and where many housing units are instead offered on tourist accommodation platforms such as Airbnb and others, notes the RCLALQ.

0.46% of owners own 32% of the rental stock

If fewer people become homeowners, it puts more pressure on the rental market. However, the concentration of ownership of rental housing is also singled out as one of the causes of the difficulty in finding affordable housing. A study by researchers at McGill University and the University of Waterloo showed earlier this year that 0.46% of real estate owners in Montreal owned nearly 32% of Montreal’s rental housing. “So buildings that were owned by small owners are increasingly sold to investors or speculators. We are witnessing the financialization of housing, and it is the citizens who pay the bill,” illustrates Mr. Dussault. Across Quebec, 16% of owners and 25% of tenants live in non-affordable housing, which requires more than 30% of gross household income, according to the ISQ.

Couples more likely to be homeowners

Unsurprisingly, in general, couples have easier access to property than other types of households “because of their potentially higher income,” reports the ISQ. “Among couple households, those with children have the highest ownership rate. Approximately 79.4% of couples with children own their home in Quebec, compared to 75.1% of couples without children, 51.2% of single-parent families and 40.4% of single people,” notes the organization.