« Although it is true that vacancy rates have diminished in several regions of Quebec in the course of last year, it is false, however, to trumpet that rents increase too much in Quebec with a progression of about 2,1 % in 2007, beside noticing that these same rents are still amongst the lowest in Canada », Martin A. Messier, president of the Quebec Landlords Association lets us now. The APQ wants to react in this to the results of the Fall 2008 Poll on rentable dwellings done by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
« On average, rents in Quebec have grown by about 2,1 % since 2007. The estimated variation of rents oscillated between 1 % and 3 % in the CMAs (the Census Metropolitan Areas). According to the affordability indicator of the CMHC, the large rental markets of Quebec would still be the most affordable in the country », the federal organism has divulged in its official communiqué.
The CMHC Poll also indicates that the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment sets itself now at 646 $ per month for the whole of Quebec; 677 $ in Gatineau; 659 $ in Montreal; 653 $ in Quebec City; 518 $ in Saguenay; 543 $ in Sherbrooke; and 505 $ in Trois-Rivières.
« Rental dwellings are still built in Quebec but not in a conventional manner, whereas the costs of construction are too high to allow for rents to be set at levels as low as we actually know them in Quebec. In as much and as long as one does not modify the present method of rent setting by the Rental Board which has kept rents so low since many years, and as long as the governments do not find the political courage to act, this situation will go on », the president of the APQ concluded.