Quebec’s highly competitive real estate market has slightly cooled off for buyers thanks to a recent uptick in housing supply, a recent housing market study shows.
In Montreal, there was a 13 per cent increase in active residential listings in the third quarter of 2026, compared with this time last year, according to an October 2026 study from the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB).
The supply increase means buyers have more choice than in previous years and are less often forced to enter a bidding war, but it does not mean housing has become more affordable, according to QPAREB economist Camille Laberge.
“For the island of Montreal and pretty much everywhere across the province, the supply has been up for the last year. But we were such at a low level that even the increases that we’re experiencing right now are not bringing us to a balanced market yet. The market is still favourable to the sellers,” Laberge said in an interview.
“The big difference is that there is finally a little bit more choice. For buyers, they get to visit houses and actually think about purchasing the place before putting an offer on the house,” she added, noting many prospective home buyers were put off by pressure to make an offer or overbid.
A primary reason Quebec’s housing supply has grown is because of economic hardship among buyers, which Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation economist Francis Cortellino says has gotten worse since 2025.
“You can see that early 2025 something happened where now we’re in downward trend, and what happened is all the uncertainty that we have with the U.S., basically. And you add to that the situation in the Middle East, the oil prices,” Cortellino said in an interview.
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From January to September of this year, there were 43,000 sales in Greater Montreal, compared with 47,000 sales for the same period last year, according to data from the CMHC. Overall, the housing market favours sellers rather than buyers according to the CMHC, particularly for single-family homes.
Cortellino explained Quebec housing market studies often aggregate data based on the number of available listings on Centris.ca. In a highly competitive market, a listing could disappear within one or two months. But with a cooling market, listings could stay online for several months, meaning more listings are available overall.
Although sales have slowed, Laberge said she doesn’t expect prices to drop anytime soon.
“Unfortunately, it would take a very … important price decrease to make properties more affordable than they are because the interest rate has such a big impact on the budget,” Laberge said, pointing to the Bank of Canada’s interest rate hike from 2.25 to 2.5 per cent on Wednesday.
“Incomes would have to increase a lot, and with this economy and … with what is going on with the United States, we don’t foresee a big increase in incomes, either. So affordability should not get better anytime soon.”
While the number of listings in Greater Montreal have grown since last year, Cortellino explained there are still fewer listings now than there were 10 years ago. In July 2015, there were nearly 36,000 listings on Centris, compared with nearly 21,000 in September 2026, according to CMHC data.
Leora Schertzer is a reporter at the Montreal Gazette who thrives on the chase. Whether it’s producing a documentary about sewage or investigating a Nazi gold scandal, it’s the novelty and adrenaline that keep her in this challenging industry. Send her tips at lschertzer@postmedia.com.
lschertzer@postmedia.com