25,000 housing units stand vacant
Close to 25,000 housing units stand vacant in Montreal right now, a number arrived at through Hydro‑Quebec’s records. With an interesting tool for checking how many vacancies are in your postal area.
Adding later: Projet is proposing a tax on vacant buildings.
It goes on puzzling me, as it did when I worked on the 2021 census and found many addresses empty. In a few, I could see that renovations had begun at some time in the past but had been abandoned, in some cases quite a long time ago. But rents are much higher now, and not everyone demands a high level of finish with granite tops and a breakfast bar. A clean unit with functional bathroom and kitchen fittings can get you upwards of $1200 for a small place, and much more for a larger one – why do landlords pass this by?
Paul 09:44 on 2026-06-17 Permalink
Interesting. BC has a vacant property tax, perhaps QC should do the same?
Kate 09:48 on 2026-06-17 Permalink
The city has a vacant property listing but most landlords ignore it, according to a CBC piece from April. Like other rules set by the city – Airbnb listings, for example – the law is toothless with few inspectors and no enforcement.
Ephraim 12:02 on 2026-06-17 Permalink
Well, if it’s not a residence, maybe it shouldn’t get residential rate 😀
Nicholas 13:53 on 2026-06-17 Permalink
Kate, that CBC article says there are 800 vacant buildings (not units), but the way they define it is utilities are all cut. This measure looks at low (but not no) Hydro usage. So the two lists are completely non-overlapping.
Overall, though, it seems this is a better list and also shows that vacancy rates are incredibly low. 2.6% is a very constrained market, you really want double that to see rates coming down. And these include renos, pied à terres, etc. My place unfortunately has gas and so uses only 5x the cutoff amount, so anyone here for just two months could be under the limit, as would places with active full gutting renos, like at least 2 places on my block.
Also the vacancy rate is very low in the central city but also the next ring, with the West Island having bigger vacancies. Ile Bizard is very high, maybe cottages? Landlords are going to keep squeezing us unless we build more in central areas. And not just a few small apartments, like we could use like 50,000 units on island, but housing starts are just half that region wide, barely enough to keep up with natural growth. We’ve got a big hole to dig out of.
azrhey 14:16 on 2026-06-17 Permalink
well… it is good I am not in charge of anything, but I would put a tax on vacant residential units that double every six months unless there is active renovation work being done.