The health crisis, which hit the metropolis hard, and the possibility of teleworking push many Montrealers to barter the city for the countryside.
• Read also: All the developments of the pandemic
“Montreal is a fast and hectic pace of life. We’re always in a hurry. It’s hard to describe, but with the pandemic, it was becoming unbearable, ”says Vincent Collard, who will move to Notre-Dame-du-Portage, near Rivière-du-Loup, in a house with a view of the river, in July.
Photo Ben Pelosse
Vincent Collard leaves Montreal after finding a house in Notre-Dame-du-Portage, in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region.
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Before the crisis, Louis-Charles Ménard, president of the RE / MAX Bonjour real estate agency, on the North Shore, already noticed that both the suburbs of Montreal and the regions were gaining popularity.
“We feel that the pandemic has accelerated the phenomenon. Some customers tell us that they don’t want to relive a city confinement while others now have the possibility of teleworking, ”he underlines. He also sees a craze for intergenerational homes.
This is the case of the sisters Audrey, Vanessa and Arianne Laurin. The pandemic pushed these three Montrealers to leave the city to return to the family home in Pointe-Fortune, in Montérégie, which they will expand to live there with their children, parents and grandparents, nine under the same roof.
Photo Ben Pelosse
The Laurin sisters lived in the same building in the Hochelaga district. They made the decision to return to the Pointe-Fortune family home to live with their children, parents and grandparents.
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High demand
The brokers interviewed agree that regional demand exceeds supply.
“Buyers often find themselves on multiple purchase promises. This is a favorable situation for sellers, ”explains Christian Longpré, director of the agency Royal LePage Au Sommet, in Magog.
This is what Denis Brissette and his wife, Louisette Langlois, experienced.
Chantal Poirier pictures
Denis Brissette and his wife had to play elbow with other buyers who plan to live far from the city and finally opted for a house in the Laurentians.
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This couple in their sixties has made an offer to buy a house in Saint-Colomban, in the Laurentians.
“There are five of us who made an offer on it. Interesting houses leave quickly, ”he says.
Estrie is popular
For the month of May, the Royal LePage branches in Magog, Lac-Brome and Sutton received more than double the number of calls from buyers from the Greater Montreal region than at the same date last year.
Montrealers are mostly looking for peaceful land where they will be at home, notes Isabelle St-Arnault, real estate broker in Magog.
“The properties by the lake are sought after. They sell like hot cakes, ”she says.
Tatiana Lyssan, who lived in the Ahuntsic district, flinched for a century-old house in Orford, in the Eastern Townships.
“I am a wine representative and I have lost my job, given what is happening in the restaurant industry. So I sold my condo. “
The region also paid attention to Philippe Rioux. This young 25 year old sold his condo and quit his job to move to Sutton.
Photo Alex Drouin
Philippe Rioux sold his Outremont condo to live in his family’s chalet in Sutton, where he enjoys nature and a nearby lake.
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A small family who had a duplex in the Villeray district also chose the Eastern Townships.
Photo courtesy
Caroline Grutman, Jérémy Nolet and their son, Zack, will now enjoy the great outdoors in Dunham after having put up for sale their duplex located in Villeray.
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Too expensive in Montreal
The health crisis will amplify the phenomenon of urban exodus, believes Charles Brant, director of the market analysis service at the Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers of Quebec. However, he does not know whether this trend is short-lived or whether it will continue beyond the pandemic.
According to him, the price of homes outside Montreal could motivate buyers.
“The island of Montreal is expensive. Prices do not drop despite the situation. For example, single family homes are unaffordable. Those who need more look more on the outskirts of the metropolis, ”he observes.
Three sisters leave Hochelaga to live new under the same roof
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The pandemic pushed three sisters from Montreal to settle in a house in Pointe-Fortune, in Montérégie, which they will transform into intergenerational to live there with their mother, children and grandparents, nine under the same roof.
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They swap their luxurious condo for a century-old house
Photo courtesy, Sébastien Pilon
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Suffering from lack of space during confinement, a couple from Montreal, who had a dream condo, decided to leave the city to settle in Chambly.
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“The real estate market is crazy”
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After several purchase offers made on houses, a couple approaching retirement finally found the perfect home in Saint-Hippolyte; but to flee Montreal, he had to resign himself to spending more than the initial budget.
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Holy peace in the Bas-Saint-Laurent
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Exasperated by the stress that was increasing along with the number of COVID cases, Vincent Collard saw the pandemic as an opportunity to flee Montreal and move to the Bas-Saint-Laurent.
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Back to the family chalet
Photo special collaboration, Alex Drouin
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The pandemic quickly made a 25-year-old Montrealer realize that he lacked nature and the great outdoors, which prompted him to sell his condo in Outremont, then to move into the family chalet, in Sutton.
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A house in Estrie for half the price of a Montreal condo
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Tatiana Lyssan has moved ahead of her plans to move to the Eastern Townships after finding a perfect century home in Orford, which will cut her mortgage in half compared to her condo in Ahuntsic.
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The life plan of a family turned upside down by the pandemic
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They had to spend their lives in Montreal, well settled in their newly renovated duplex. But the pandemic has shaken up the plans of Caroline Grutman and Jérémy Nolet, who will officially move into the countryside this summer with their two-year-old boy.
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