Employment will increase moderately as will Québec’s economy even if there is inequality in these areas in major Québec towns. The growth of the population is also projected for several years o come.
Kevin Hughes, Regional Economist for the Société canadienne d'hypothèques et de logement (SCHL), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) was one of many guest speakers invited to the last Québec forum on multi-residential investment held in Montréal.
Net migration to Montréal has increased since 2000. According to the speaker, there has been an increase over the last ten years of « economic » immigrants who have jobs or have more of a chance of getting one in Québec.
Kevin Hughes says that there are two phenomena in immigration trends into the major cities of Québec. Many people from various regions settle in Montréal, but about 20,000 people from Montréal head to the suburbs every year. However, immigrants from international destinations settle mainly in Montréal thereby creating a balance in migration. It should be noted that a significant migration of people from the eastern part of Québec settle in Québec City.
Another ever-increasing trend is the baby boomers who are leaving the city to settle in the Laval, Montérégie, Lanaudière, Laurentian regions.
Construction in decline
According to Mr. Hughes, construction will decrease in 2006 for multi-residential units, and also for cooperatives that will have an adjusted growth rate. It is evident that the vacancy rate will continue to climb in the various regions of Québec with a weak growth in employment, stable migration and a decrease in the cost of residential construction.
Montréal loses 20,000 people every year but gains back with more international immigration
