Skip to content
Construction Market Intelligence
fr

Québec City vs. Montréal: construction market comparison

How residential construction in Québec City and Montréal differs on activity, growth, mix and cost, using population-normalized official data.

Trailing 12 months ending June 2026

What separates these markets

  • Québec City has substantially higher housing-start intensity than Montréal (8.87 vs. 6.20 starts per 1,000 residents, 1.43 times).
  • Starts are moving in opposite directions: Montréal +36.4% and Québec City −1.2% versus the prior 12 months.
  • Montréal is far more renovation-oriented than Québec City (58.3% vs. 40.0% of residential investment).
  • Québec City's residential permit value rose 27.8% nominally and approximately 18.8% after adjusting for construction prices.
  • Québec City started more units than it completed over the past 12 months (8.87 starts vs. 7.11 completions per 1,000).

Generated from the values in the tables below using fixed, symmetric rules. Descriptive only — not a forecast.

Activity and intensity

Activity and intensity: Québec City and Montréal
MetricQuébec CityMontréal
Housing starts per 1,000 residents Higher value is 1.43× the lower8.876.20
Housing starts, trailing 12 months 8,01528,492
Housing completions per 1,000 residents Higher value is 1.36× the lower7.115.23
Units under construction per 1,000 residents Higher value is 1.61× the lower12.507.76
Pending starts per 1,000 residents Higher value is 2.02× the lower8.384.15
Dwelling units authorized per 1,000 residents Higher value is 1.97× the lower12.936.56

Growth (latest 12 months vs. prior 12 months)

Growth (latest 12 months vs. prior 12 months): Québec City and Montréal
MetricQuébec CityMontréal
Housing starts, change vs prior 12 months −1.2%+36.4%
Completions, change vs prior 12 months +3.5%+11.4%
Residential permit value growth (nominal) +27.8%+10.0%
Residential permit value growth (constant dollars) +18.8%+2.3%
Single-dwelling permit value growth (constant dollars) +13.1%+1.4%
Multiple-dwelling permit value growth (constant dollars) +20.4%+2.5%
Residential investment growth (nominal) +28.4%+19.7%
Residential investment growth (constant dollars) +19.8%+11.6%

Market mix

Market mix: Québec City and Montréal
MetricQuébec CityMontréal
Renovation share of residential investment 40.0%58.3%
Alterations share of residential permit value 9.6%18.3%
Single-detached share of housing starts 9.3%4.7%
Apartment share of housing starts 82.2%91.2%
Rental share of housing starts 82.3%84.6%

Construction cost

Construction cost: Québec City and Montréal
MetricQuébec CityMontréal
Residential construction price growth +9.8%+7.4%

Size

Size: Québec City and Montréal
MetricQuébec CityMontréal
Population 903,6074,597,837

Nominal growth includes construction-price change; constant-dollar growth is Statistics Canada’s price-adjusted series. Values not published for a market read “Not published”.

Rankings where they differ most

More comparisons

Sources and data period

Figures cover the trailing 12 months ending June 2026, the latest period published for all 16 markets. Source data retrieved through September 12, 2026. This page was built on November 8, 2026; the build date is not the data period. Values not published by the source are shown as “Not published”, never estimated.

Methodology, definitions and limitations

Get the monthly Construction Market Brief

One email when new official data is published: what changed in housing starts, real permit growth, construction prices and market mix across 16 Canadian markets. No forecasts, no spam.

    Construction Market Intelligence

    An independent publication built from official Statistics Canada and CMHC data. Current data: trailing 12 months ending June 2026.

    Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Statistics Canada or CMHC.