Market Analysis
Luxury Real Estate Market in Montreal: The Data
Your property is worth $900,000 and you are wondering whether it belongs to a different market than your …
You will be told the suburbs cost less, and the gap between median prices seems to confirm it. Then the tax bill arrives, along with the second car and the minutes added to every trip. Here are the items to add up, each with its source and its month, and the reason you will not find a winner at the end.
Median prices by territory: the APCIQ numbers for August 2026
The Association professionnelle des courtiers immobiliers du Québec (Quebec’s professional association of real estate brokers) publishes monthly statistics by territory and by category, drawn from the Centris system. Here are the median prices for August 2026, released on September 4.
| Territory | Single-family | Condominium |
|---|---|---|
| Island of Montreal | $820,000 | $475,000 |
| Laval | $642,750 | $449,000 |
| Rive-Nord de Montréal (north shore) | $600,000 | $390,000 |
The raw gap on the single-family home therefore reaches $220,000 between the island and the Rive-Nord. Note its limit right away: a median compares two markets, not two houses. Building age, living area and lot size differ from one territory to the next, with no adjustment whatsoever. The monthly reading of these series is in my analysis of the Montreal and Laval market.
Municipal taxes: two rates, and the assessment roll trap
In Montreal, the residential rate is not a single number. The residual category, meaning buildings of five dwellings or fewer, pays in 2026 a general property tax of $0.4631 per $100 of assessment, a special water tax of $0.0831, $0.0024 for roads and $0.0070 as a contribution to the ARTM. Added to that are the debt of the former cities and the two borough taxes, services and investments, which each council sets on its own. That is where the gap inside the island comes from.
In Laval, a single base residential rate applies: $0.4973 per $100, plus $0.0825 for the ARTM and $0.0111 for water infrastructure. But water service is billed separately there, as a flat amount: $486 per dwelling in 2026, against $337 in 2025.
On a roll value of $600,000:
| Territory | 2026 rate per $100 | Tax on value | Water service | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal, Rivière-des-Prairies and Pointe-aux-Trembles | $0.7100 | $4,260 | included | $4,260 |
| Montreal, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal | $0.6511 | $3,907 | included | $3,907 |
| Laval | $0.5909 | $3,545 | $486 | $4,031 |
Laval therefore slots in between two Montreal boroughs, not below both. The idea that the suburbs necessarily pay less tax does not survive the addition.
The trap is the roll. The rate applies to an entered value, never to the price paid. Montreal taxes in 2026 on its 2026-2027-2028 roll, Laval on its 2025-2026-2027 roll, with the variation spread over three years. Two houses sold on the same day at the same price therefore do not share the same tax base. The mechanics of the bill are in property taxes in Montreal and Laval.
The cost of living in the Montreal suburbs is decided on the second car
This is the item that flips the calculation. Here are the monthly passes at the regular fare from the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (the metropolitan transit authority), in effect since July 1, 2026:
| Monthly pass | Territory | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tous modes A | Montreal agglomeration | $110 | $1,320 |
| Tous modes AB | adds Laval and Longueuil | $170 | $2,040 |
| Tous modes ABC | adds the outer rings | $206 | $2,472 |
| Tous modes ABCD | outside the ARTM territory | $281 | $3,372 |
Against that, the floor cost of one more car. The SAAQ charges $217.41 for the annual renewal of a passenger vehicle of 3,000 kg or less: $140 in duties, $66.01 of insurance, $5.95 of tax and $5.45 of charges. On the territory of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, add $30 of contribution to public transit and $153.45 of registration tax, collected since January 1, 2024. Total: $400.86, identical in Montreal, Laval and Terrebonne, since all three sit inside the CMM. A reduction of up to $50 applies to the duties between September 1, 2026 and August 31, 2027.
Add fuel. Statistics Canada measured self-serve regular unleaded gasoline at 184.9 cents a litre in Montreal in August 2026. At 15,000 km a year and 8 litres per 100 km, two assumptions to replace with your own, that comes to 1,200 litres, or roughly $2,219.
Registration and fuel therefore already exceed $2,600, before insurance, maintenance, tires, parking and depreciation. I give no average total: an average does not describe your vehicle. CAA-Québec’s driving costs calculator does it item by item.
The consequence reaches your financing too: the lender enters the car payment in your total debt service ratio, exactly like the mortgage and the taxes. Test both scenarios in the affordability calculator before choosing a sector.
Commuting time: the data that contradicts the intuition
The 2021 Census gives the average commuting duration, by municipality of residence and by mode.
| Residence | All modes | Car | Public transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal | 28.4 min | 24.8 min | 41.4 min |
| Laval | 26.6 min | 24.4 min | 47.0 min |
| Terrebonne | 29.4 min | 28.7 min | 56.5 min |
| Repentigny | 28.6 min | 27.8 min | 55.6 min |
| Mascouche | 27.9 min | 27.5 min | 60.2 min |
By car, the gap between Montreal and the northern ring runs around four minutes per trip. On public transit it exceeds fifteen minutes, and reaches nineteen minutes in Mascouche. The suburbs cost time above all to whoever gives up the car.
More uncomfortable still: a Laval resident had a shorter average trip in 2021 than a Montreal resident, all modes combined. These averages count every worker, not only those heading downtown. Measure your own: make the full trip, on a Tuesday, there and back, at your hours.
The space you actually get
What you are buying changes in nature as you cross the river. Among owners, in 2021:
| Municipality | Single detached house | Dwelling with 4 bedrooms or more |
|---|---|---|
| Montreal | 18.4% | 17.6% |
| Laval | 64.0% | 29.3% |
| Terrebonne | 77.0% | 34.8% |
| Repentigny | 75.0% | 35.2% |
No official source lets me give you a median price per square foot by territory: that statistic is not published. The assessment roll, for its part, gives the floor area, the year of construction and the lot size free of charge. Space gets verified there, property by property, not in a gap between medians.
Heating, water and transfer duties: the items people forget
Heating follows the floor area. Hydro-Québec’s Rate D, in effect since April 1, 2026, includes a network access charge of 46.154 cents a day, then 7.065 cents per kilowatt hour up to 40 kilowatt hours a day and 11.142 cents beyond. A larger house crosses into the second tier more often, at 58% more per kilowatt hour.
Water is not billed the same way. Montreal funds it through a rate on value, Laval through a flat amount per dwelling. A low value property in Laval therefore pays proportionally more for its water.
Transfer duties hit once. The base scale is provincial, but Montreal applies its own upper brackets, which changes the closing bill before it even changes the mortgage. Details in the welcome tax in Quebec.
Comparing the cost of living in the suburbs or in the city: the sheet to fill in
Eight lines are enough, in dollars per year, for the two addresses you are torn between.
- The mortgage payment, on the real price of each property you are targeting, not on the territory median.
- Municipal taxes, at the 2026 rate of the borough or the city, applied to the value entered on the roll.
- Water pricing, included in the rate in Montreal, extra in Laval.
- Transit passes: one or two monthly subscriptions, in the right zone.
- The cars: the exact number in each scenario, registration, insurance, fuel, maintenance and depreciation.
- Parking, permit included where one exists.
- Electricity, adjusted to the heated area.
- Time: the minutes added per day, multiplied by your working days.
The result will tip on a single variable: does the household drop a car by moving into the city, or add one by moving to the suburbs? A couple going from two cars to one frees up more than the median price gap costs them. A couple going from one to two travels the opposite road. So I do not decide for you: the answer is on your sheet.
Frequently asked questions
Are the suburbs really cheaper? On the purchase price, yes: a $600,000 median for a single-family home on the Rive-Nord against $820,000 on the island in August 2026, according to the APCIQ. On the annual cost, everything depends on the number of cars and on the value entered on the roll.
How much tax will I save by leaving Montreal for Laval? Perhaps nothing. On a value of $600,000, Laval comes to roughly $4,031 with the water service in 2026, which is more than Le Plateau-Mont-Royal and less than Rivière-des-Prairies and Pointe-aux-Trembles. Compare the precise borough, not the city.
Does a monthly pass replace a car? In cash terms, a Tous modes ABC subscription costs $2,472 a year, less than the fuel and registration of a single car. In practice, it depends on your schedule. Make the trip before you sell the vehicle.
Should I choose based on future appreciation? No, and no public data allows anyone to promise a rate of appreciation by territory. Choose on verifiable costs and on your holding horizon.
To go further, read the renting or buying calculation in Greater Montreal and the hidden costs of homeownership.
Torn between two addresses, one on the island and one off it? Write to me. I will fill in the eight lines with you, sources attached, before the first visit.
Georges Matar
Residential Real Estate Broker · RE/MAX DU CARTIER INC.
Contact Georges
