Quebec Mortgage Rates

Quebec is home to 8.48 million people and is the largest province in Canada by land area. The Montreal Metro Area accounts for a quarter of Quebec’s population with a population of 4 million. From 2006 to 2019, Montreal had the highest growth rate in the province, at an annual growth rate of 1.56%, while regions such as the North Shore and Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine saw negative population growth. Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, and has over three times the population of Quebec City.

The Organisme d'autoréglementation du courtage immobilier du Québec (OACIQ) is the regulatory authority of real estate brokerages in Quebec. There are 15,921 real estate license holders in Quebec, with 5,519 residential real estate brokers and 9,368 mixed residential and commercial real estate brokers. Almost half of license holders are in the Montreal area. Only those licensed by the OACIQ can use the term real estate broker or real estate agency in Quebec.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) predicts that residential housing construction will slow down in the future in Montreal due to demographic changes, while the rental housing market will accelerate. An aging population will also further increase the number of properties listed for sale. Montreal saw a record-breaking number of rental housing starts in 2018, which was driven by rental apartments. At the same time, the condominium market saw a significant downturn, after tripling the number of units for sale in an eight year period from 2010 to 2018. 5.9% of all properties sold in Montreal in 2016 were from seniors 85 years and over, while another 6.4% was from those aged 75 years to 84 years old.

CMHC used Centris data to look at the number of listings and sales in Montreal’s housing market, and saw signs of overheating in the housing market. Looking at the province as a whole, the average age in Quebec is 38 years old, the average household income is $77,306, and the average household size is 2.3 persons. 61% of Quebecers own their house, while 39% rent. In comparison, 40% of Montrealers own their house, while 60% rent. The types of housing are also vastly different. 46% of Quebecers live in a single-family home, compared to 12% of Montrealers.

Best 5-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates in Quebec

nesto

4.79%

Get This Rate

BMO

5.09%

Promotional Rate

TD

5.09%

RBC

5.74%

Scotiabank

6.34%

Select: Term

1-Yr2-Yr3-Yr4-Yr5-Yr

Fixed

Variable

See More Rates

Canada’s Big Banks (RBC, TD, Scotiabank, CIBC, and BMO) all operate in Quebec. Being Canada’s oldest bank, the Bank of Montreal was established in Montreal in 1817, and eventually moved their headquarters to Toronto in 1977. Laurentian Bank is also mainly located in Quebec with 114 branches.

Quebec is home to Caisse Desjardins, which is the country’s largest federation of credit unions, also known as caisse populaires. Quebec has the highest number of credit union members in Canada, with 4.4 million being members of a credit union in 2016, and is equivalent to over 50% of Quebec’s population. This penetration rate is the highest in the country, but is significantly lower than in 2002 when it reached 69.3%. There are just under 300 caisse populaires in Quebec, with 985 caisse populaires branches, compared to 1,110 bank branches.

Caisse populaires are allowed to sell and promote insurance products, such as auto, home, and life insurance. Not all provinces in Canada allow credit unions to sell and promote certain insurance products. For example, Ontario only allows credit unions to sell credit, mortgage, and travel insurance.

The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is the financial regulator in Quebec. In 2018, the AMF proposed that credit unions and caisse populaires in Quebec must introduce mortgage stress tests. Previously, only federally regulated institutions, such as banks, were required to conduct stress tests.

Desjardins (Fédération des Caisses Desjardins du Québec) is the largest financial institution in Quebec, has Quebec's largest network of ATMs, and can be found in 183 towns and villages. Desjardins had a strong 2020, acquiring Purplebricks Canada and DuProprio, expanding their presence in real estate sales services, along with acquiring La Capitale's Quebec mortgage loan portfolio worth $474 million in February 2020.

Desjardins Group was Quebec's largest residential mortgage lender in 2020, with a 39% market share of Quebec's mortgage market. With 91% of Desjardins’ loans being in Quebec, Desjardins has a strong regional presence in the province.

Desjardins offers a variety of mortgage products that you can customize to fit your financial situation. Desjardins hybrid mortgages allow you to mix fixed and variable mortgage rates. For example, their Closed 5-in-1 Yearly Rate Resetter Mortgage has a fixed mortgage rate that resets once per year for 5 years, while the Desjardins Closed Protected Variable-Rate has a variable mortgage rate that has a ceiling limit.

For those needing assistance with closing costs, Desjardins offers cash remittance on their mortgages, which will cover up to $10,000 in closing costs or 5.5% of your mortgage, in exchange for your Desjardins mortgage rate being higher.

For borrowers looking for a construction loan, Desjardins' Green Homes Program provides cashback bonus, a rebate on your property insurance, and other benefits when receiving Desjardins financing towards a new construction home that meets certain environmental standards.

National Bank (Banque Nationale) was founded in 1859 and opened their first office in Quebec City. Today, National Bank of Canada is headquartered in Montreal and is the sixth largest bank in Canada.

Along with fixed rate and variable rate mortgages, National Bank also offers hybrid mortgages that combine fixed and variable rates, along with capped variable rates. National Bank's self-employed mortgages allow self-employed workers or business owners to borrow up to $600,000 with a 10% minimum down payment.

Laurentian Bank was founded in Quebec over 175 years ago, and still operates primarily in Quebec today, with 43% of their loans being made in Quebec.

Laurentian Bank's Homeowner's Kit allows you to combine multiple financing products into one package. With the Homeowner's Kit, you can have multiple mortgage terms and multiple HELOCs all with different mortgage rates. This can be especially useful for those looking to borrow money from their home equity to invest, and would like to bundle it into a mortgage term.

Laurentian Bank also offers cash back mortgages of up to 5% or $25,000, along with convertible rate mortgages.

While Bank of Montreal’s operational head office is in Toronto, BMO’s legal head office is still in Montreal. In addition to traditional mortgages, BMO offers convertible mortgages, readvanceable mortgages, and the longest mortgage rate hold in Canada when applying for a fixed rate mortgage.

Best 5-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates in Quebec

nesto

4.79%

Get This Rate

BMO

5.09%

Promotional Rate

TD

5.09%

RBC

5.74%

Scotiabank

6.34%

Select: Term

1-Yr2-Yr3-Yr4-Yr5-Yr

Fixed

Variable

See More Rates

Mortgage brokers were regulated by the OACIQ until April 2020, when the AMF started governing the sector as of May 1, 2020. Quebec is the only province in Canada that allows realtors to receive a referral fee for referring mortgage clients to a bank. These realtor referral fees are usually 0.5%.

National mortgage brokers that operate in Quebec include Dominion Lending Centres, Mortgage Architects, nesto, and CanWise. A few mortgage brokers that also operate in Quebec include Multi-Prêts Mortgages, North East Mortgages, Landmark Real Estate Group, and Équipe Lupien.

Nesto is a digital mortgage brokerage firm that is based in Montreal. EQ Bank partnered with nesto to create an online mortgage marketplace that allows borrowers to get prequalified in minutes, get the lowest rates up without any negotiation needed, and to compare pre-negotiated rates from lenders across Canada. EQ Bank’s online mortgage marketplace is only available to EQ Bank account holders.

Nesto also only provides mortgages for residential properties, and does not offer construction loans, land loans, or financing for mobile homes. Nesto also only works with borrowers that have a good credit score of at least 680, with no recent bankruptcies or consumer proposals. By being completely digital, Nesto can offer low Montreal mortgage rates. Nesto also reduces their finder's fee by 33% to 50%, which allows them to reduce their Montreal mortgage rates by 0.10% to 0.20%. Most of nesto's mortgages go to MCAP Financial.

Multi-Prêts Mortgages is among one of the largest mortgage brokerages in Canada, and works with 20 mortgage lenders to get you the best Quebec mortgage rate all with no brokerage fee. Over 400 mortgage brokers work for Multi-Prêts Mortgages within Quebec. Outside of Quebec, Multi-Prêts operates as the Mortgage Alliance Group in all other provinces.

Part of M3 Mortgage Group, Canada's largest non-bank mortgage originator, Multi-Prêts Mortgages acquired Invis and Mortgage Intelligence in October 2016 to firmly cement itself as Quebec's fastest growing mortgage brokerage.

The Invis and Mortgage Intelligence purchase boosted Multi-Prêts from 2,000 full-service mortgage brokers across Canada and $13 billion in annual mortgage originations to over 3,000 mortgage brokers and $22 billion annually in mortgages in 2016. A recent case study by Dialekta, a Montreal-based marketing agency, worked with Multi-Prêt in 2018 with their over 6,000 franchised mortgage brokers and $44 billion annually in mortgages to enhance their marketing strategy.

Multi Prêts Mortgages also works with alternative mortgage lenders such as Pentor, a Quebec-based lender that specializes in mortgages for borrowers that have defaulted on their mortgage, have a lien against their home, or need to consolidate their debt. Multi Prêts has 60 office locations in Quebec, from Abitibi-Témiscamingue to the Eastern Townships (Estrie), with a large number of offices in Laurentides, Montreal, and Quebec City.

North East Mortgages claims to be the #1 mortgage brokerage in Laval , Montreal, and Quebec, with 36 mortgage brokers on their team located throughout the province. They offer residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, rental property mortgages, and reverse mortgages for Montreal and properties throughout Quebec.

Équipe Lupien has 19 mortgage brokers that operate mainly in French. Six of Équipe Lupien’s mortgage brokers also speak English. Équipe Lupien offers fixed and variable mortgage rates, along with mortgage refinancing and loans for renovations, second homes, and rental buildings.

Dominion Lending Centres (DLC) is Canada’s largest mortgage company. In Quebec, Dominion Lending Centres has 219 mortgage brokers and 26 office locations, such as in Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau, Chicoutimi, Kirkland, La Prairie, and Sherbrooke. In 2020, Dominion Lending Centres received $4.2 billion in mortgage submissions, representing 21% of Quebec's mortgage broker market when combined with DLC’s brand Mortgage Architects. On its own, DLC has 11% market share in Quebec, and Mortgage Architects has 9% market share. This makes Dominion Lending Centres the second largest regional mortgage broker firm in Quebec, and Mortgage Architects as the third largest, according to Dominion Lending Centres’ 2020 Annual Report.

DLC offers conventional mortgages, along with mortgages for Quebec first-time home buyers, newcomers to Canada, second properties, vacation homes, investment properties, commercial mortgages, and reverse mortgages.

Best 5-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates in Quebec

nesto

4.79%

Get This Rate

BMO

5.09%

Promotional Rate

TD

5.09%

RBC

5.74%

Scotiabank

6.34%

Select: Term

1-Yr2-Yr3-Yr4-Yr5-Yr

Fixed

Variable

See More Rates

The Canadian Mortgage Awards by Mortgage Professionals Canada looks at the largest mortgage brokers in the country by mortgage transaction volume. In 2020, four out of 75 of the largest mortgage brokers were based in Quebec.

RLH Mortgages, part of Mortgage Planners (Planiprêt Agence Hypothécaire) was the 23rd largest individual mortgage broker in Canada and the largest in Quebec by volume, with 422 mortgage loans funded for a total of $144 million.

Mortgage Planners (Planiprêt) is a Quebec mortgage brokerage firm that has 15 branches in the Montreal area, including Laval, Pointe-Claire, Chateauguay, and Saint-Lambert. Combined, Planiprêt has a team of over 20 mortgage brokers and originates over $350 million in mortgages per year.

The mortgage broker with the second highest volume of mortgages in Quebec in 2020 was Sandra Allard of Les Hypotheques Sandra Allard, also part of Planiprêt. The third largest was Terry Kilakos, of North East Mortgages, based in Saint-Laurent.

Quebec’s and Montreal’s housing markets are cheaper than the national average, which makes mortgages more affordable. Low housing prices means that Montreal and Quebec City mortgages are smaller than average. Meanwhile, Quebec’s competitive mortgage marketplace allows for low mortgage rates in Quebec.

According to the CMHC, the average new mortgage amount in Quebec for mortgages originated in Q1 2021 was $217,106, lower than the newly originated Canadian average mortgage amount of $335,462, and less than half the average mortgage amount of $499,640 in Toronto and $520,839 in Vancouver.

Source: CMHC

Small mortgage balances means that Quebec homeowners can enjoy small mortgage payments. In some areas of the province, such as in Trois-Rivières and Saguenay , the average monthly mortgage payment can be a fraction of the amount seen in more expensive housing markets. For example, the average mortgage payment in Toronto is $1,866, while the average in Vancouver is $1,975.

Changes in Toronto mortgage rates will have a much larger impact on the affordability of a mortgage compared to changes in Montreal mortgage rates or Quebec mortgage rates.

Source: CMHC

Down payments in Quebec are on average slightly smaller as a proportion of property value compared to the rest of Canada. The average loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of new un-insured mortgages made by HSBC from October 2020 to December 2020 for Quebec and the Atlantic provinces was 65.0%, compared to 63.2% in Ontario and 60.7% in British Columbia.

This would be equivalent to an average Quebec down payment being 35%, an average Ontario down payment being 36.8%, and an average BC down payment being 39.3%.

Source: HSBC 2020 Annual Report

This trend of smaller Quebec down payment holds with other major lenders. With RBC, the average down payment of RBC’s newly originated Quebec uninsured mortgages made between October 31, 2019 and October 31, 2020 was 27%, compared to the national average of 29%.

Source: RBC 2020 Annual Report

With TD, the average down payment for newly originated TD uninsured mortgages between October 31, 2019 and October 31, 2020 in Quebec was 27%, compared to the national average of 31%.

Source: TD 2020 Annual Report

With Scotiabank, the average down payment for newly originated Scotiabank uninsured mortgages between October 31, 2019 and October 31, 2020 in Quebec was 32.6%, compared to the national average of 35.4%.

Source: Scotiabank 2020 Annual Report

Some lenders may have borrowers that make larger down payments. For example, the majority of Laurentian Bank's residential conventional mortgages had a LTV of 65% or less, equivalent to a down payment of 35% or more.

*Includes Atlantic Canada