Determined to accelerate and facilitate housing construction on its territory, the City of Montreal presents the progress and preliminary results achieved in housing thanks to the acceleration measures put in place over the past year. The City has harmonized its service standards for the issuance of permits for all its boroughs.
Progress and outlook
Despite a slowdown in the market in 2023 and 2024, Montreal has achieved more than 44,000 housing starts over the past five years, an annual average of 8,852, exceeding the average of around 7,400 units per year since 2002. Despite the decline in housing starts in 2024, 11,000 housing units were delivered last year in Montreal, marking an all-time record.
The market is also showing encouraging signs. Since the start of 2025, Montreal has recorded 1,431 housing starts in the first quarter, a 58% increase over 2024. Permits issued represent nearly 4,000 new housing units, 77% of which were granted for projects of 50 units or more. Permit applications submitted and still under review represent more than 3,000 new housing units, 87% of which are for projects of 50 units or more.
120-day service standard
The first major milestone in this project was to establish a service standard for residential projects in their own right, with a target lead time of no more than 120 working days. This standard, implemented since November 1, 2024 in six pilot boroughs (LaSalle, Le Sud-Ouest, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, Verdun and Ville-Marie), has now been applied to all boroughs since January 1, 2025.
By the end of this year, it will be possible to measure and compare delays in all boroughs.
Article 93 of PL31
Since section 93 of the Act to amend various legislative provisions as regards housing (PL-31) came into force, some ten projects, totalling more than 2,400 housing units, have been accelerated thanks to the use of this superpower by the Ville de Montréal. Another ten or so projects, totalling over 4,000 units, are currently being studied by various municipal authorities. The use of these new measures will enable the City of Montreal to accelerate all types of projects, especially those that are not in compliance with the law. These new legislative provisions on housing have been in force since February 2024, and make it easier to carry out residential projects, particularly social and affordable housing, as well as mixed-use projects of three units or more.
The City of Montreal continues to work on harmonizing standards and data, while using all available tools to facilitate and accelerate residential construction in Montreal. Today's regulatory approvals are tomorrow's housing starts, and the City is showing encouraging signs for the future of the real estate market.
About Loger +
Loger + is a series of robust measures designed to enable the city to house more Montrealers. It focuses on building new units and protecting existing affordable units. Improving administrative processes, enhancing support for NPOs to accelerate social and affordable housing and increasing densities are at the heart of the means used by the Ville de Montréal to respond to the housing crisis. These measures will provide concrete, tailored responses to the recommendations of the Chantier Montréal abordable, set up by the Ville de Montréal to bring together housing stakeholders from the private and community sectors.
SOURCE City of Montreal - Office of the Mayor and Executive Committee
