Join the Discussion on Housing Solutions

CMHC will be taking part in Les Affaires’ third annual conference:

Marché de l'habitation

December 4, 2019 (Montréal)

The conference brings together stakeholders from the Montreal and surrounding area’s real estate industry. Everyone from builders to bankers. It focuses on understanding the trends influencing Montreal’s housing market and how it could look in coming years. It also provides a platform for stakeholders to look at a variety of situations and solutions to create stable, affordable communities in the years to come.

Marie-Claude Guillotte is a senior manager with CMHC. She states, “It’s so important to give housing affordability and market trends a platform. This conference isn’t just about housing market trends; it also brings awareness to affordability and to bring people together to talk about financing solutions.”

Marie-Claude will be setting the tone of the conference by giving the keynote address: Think about housing differently: let's continue the dialogue!

“We need more affordable housing. Sure, we can build new housing — we all agree that we need more supply. But, it’s not just about building more, it’s about how we do so. Industry and not-for-profit organizations are already working on models that stimulate affordable housing — we want to share these ideas and models at this conference.”

One of the pivotal questions is how the aging baby boomer population will affect housing supply and demand. This, among many other factors will play a role in housing affordability and demand. It will have a big impact on the housing landscape.

Kevin Hughes is a 20-year CMHC veteran. He heads a team of economists that specialize in demographics and housing.

“Demographics is an essential part of understanding housing demand and supply,” says Kevin. “It is the basis of so many things that we look at when it comes to housing — where people live, in what type of dwellings (i.e. price, size) and for how long — just to name a few. Of course, this influence extends beyond housing into all social phenomena.”

He continues, “At this point in our nation’s history, the pivotal demographic question for housing is the trajectory of the baby boomer cohort and how will affect housing supply and demand. This, among many other factors will play a role in housing, notably in affordability. It will have a big impact on the housing landscape.”

Kevin will be moderating a demographics panel that will look at the future of housing in Montreal.

“Given the fundamental role of demographics, the juncture at which we stand and the critical questions that remain unanswered, we look forward to the opportunity to discuss the burning issues with our colleagues.”

Francis Cortellino and Lukas Jasmin-Tucci are economists responsible for the Montreal area market at CMHC. Both have done several presentations over the last several years. Francis has been presenting at Les Affaires for the last 3 years.

Francis states, “There are so many topics to cover when looking at the real estate market — from renting, buying to economic and demographic fundamentals — we cover all the different key indicators and then extrapolate the data to talk about the new trends in the industry. We’ll present an overall look at the Montreal real estate market using a combination of all the analysis we produced this year.”

Focused on builders, bankers and mortgage industry stakeholders, Francis and Lukas will look at the momentum of Montreal’s residential market. They will discuss how:

• existing home sales are high, but the number of properties for sale remains limited
• resale market conditions remain favourable to sellers with sustained price increases
• activity is strong in the new home market, especially on the rental side
• few apartments are currently available on the Montreal rental market

The team will then project this into the future to determine whether these situations are likely to happen again next year. And, if so, what geographic areas stand out in Greater Montreal. They will also look at the projected demographic changes over the next 10 to 20years to see how this could affect the Montreal real estate market.