Montréal's purpose-built rental vacancy rate rose to 2.9% in October 2025 from 2.1% a year earlier, and the average rent climbed to C$1,290 across all bedroom types — the lowest average rent of any city in this batch. Quebec has no rent-increase ceiling like Ontario's; instead the Tribunal administratif du logement runs a new rent-fixing calculation method starting in 2026, and Montréal levies its own welcome-tax brackets on top of Quebec's base schedule.
Montréal's rent is still the lowest in this set, but climbing fastest in dollar terms
CMHC's Rental Market Survey data tables for Montréal record the purpose-built private apartment vacancy rate rising from 2.1% in October 2024 to 2.9% in October 2025, with the average rent across all bedroom types up from C$1,167 to C$1,290 — a 10.5% year-over-year increase, the largest percentage rent increase of any city in this batch, even though the resulting C$1,290 average remains the lowest dollar figure among them.
Asking rent running well above what long-standing tenants pay
Statistics Canada's experimental asking-and-paid-rent series (table 46-10-0092-01) recorded Montréal's 2-bedroom apartment average asking rent at C$1,820 for the 2026 Q2 reference period, against an average paid rent of C$1,360 — a gap of C$460, or 25.3%, one of the widest asking-to-paid spreads in this batch, close to Halifax's.
| Measure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Average asking rent | C$1,820 |
| Average paid rent | C$1,360 |
| Paid vs. asking | −C$460 (−25.3%) |
Statistics Canada, table 46-10-0092-01, experimental estimates, reference period 2026-04 (Q2 2026). Different vintage from CMHC's October 2025 survey above.
Quebec has no fixed guideline — the TAL runs a calculation instead
Quebec sets no hard rent-increase ceiling the way Ontario, BC or Manitoba do. Instead, landlords propose an increase and a tenant who disagrees can contest it at the Tribunal administratif du logement, which applies a calculation grid based on components like operating-cost changes. For the first time in more than 40 years, a new calculation method applies to any lease-modification notice given on or after January 1, 2026; notices sent before that date are still assessed under the old method. This procedural change does not itself set a numeric cap — it changes how the TAL computes what a contested increase should be.
For a Montréal investor, that structural difference matters: there is no Ontario-style percentage a landlord is legally barred from exceeding on renewal. The practical ceiling is whatever a tenant is willing to accept without contesting, or what the TAL's calculation grid produces if they do.
Montréal's welcome tax brackets go well beyond Quebec's base schedule
Quebec's base provincial welcome-tax schedule for 2026 runs 0.5% on the first C$62,900, 1.0% from C$62,900.01 to C$315,000, and 1.5% above C$315,000 — and municipalities can raise the rate above C$500,000 up to a 3% cap, except Ville de Montréal, which is explicitly permitted to set a higher rate. Montréal does: the city's own 2026 welcome-tax schedule adds brackets up to 4.0% on the portion above C$3,113,000, with intermediate steps of 2.0% (C$552,300–C$1,104,700), 2.5% (C$1,104,700–C$2,136,500) and 3.5% (C$2,136,500–C$3,113,000).
Quebec's CITQ registration for short-term rentals
If you are underwriting a Montréal unit as a short-term rental rather than a long-term lease, Quebec requires provincial registration through the CITQ. For an établissement de résidence principale (principal-residence establishment), the 2026 registration/renewal fee is C$54, issued as a 12-month certificate showing the registration number, address, category, number of units offered, and issue/expiry dates. Other establishment categories — non-principal-residence rentals — carry different, higher fee schedules not covered by this figure.
Montréal's construction costs are rising second-fastest in the country
Montréal's rent is the lowest of this set in dollar terms (covered above), but its build costs are moving in the opposite direction. Statistics Canada's Q2 2026 building construction price index puts Montréal's residential construction cost increase at 2.5% for the quarter — second only to Québec City's 2.6%, and far above the 0.5% national figure. Toronto and Vancouver, by contrast, both saw construction costs fall in the same quarter (-0.8% and -0.2%).
For an investor comparing Montréal's cap rate against a lower-rent, higher-build-cost market, the gap between rent growth and cost growth is the number to watch: a property here that needs near-term capital work is absorbing cost inflation running roughly five times the national rate, which compresses the return on any renovation-driven NOI increase relative to a market where costs are flat or falling.
Methodology
Vacancy and rent figures are CMHC's October 2025 Rental Market Survey data tables for the Montréal CMA, purpose-built private apartment universe, all bedroom types combined. The asking-vs-paid rent comparison is Statistics Canada's experimental table 46-10-0092-01 for 2-bedroom apartments, reference period 2026 Q2. The welcome-tax worked example applies Montréal's own 2026 bracket schedule step by step to an example purchase price; the TAL section describes only the calculation method's structure and effective date, not a numeric percentage, since no verified TAL rate figure for 2026 could be sourced to primary text this session (see notes).
Sources
- CMHC — Rental Market Survey Data Tables, Montréal, 2025 — accessed 2026-09-21
- Statistics Canada — Table 46-10-0092-01, asking and paid rent — accessed 2026-09-21
- Tribunal administratif du logement — Diffusion des pourcentages applicables à la fixation de loyer 2026 — accessed 2026-09-21
- Gouvernement du Québec — Droits sur les mutations immobilières — accessed 2026-09-21
- Ville de Montréal — Comment sont calculés les droits sur les mutations immobilières — accessed 2026-09-21
- CITQ — Droits payables aux fins d'enregistrement — accessed 2026-09-21
- Statistics Canada — The Daily, Building construction price indexes, Q2 2026 — accessed 2026-09-21