Trois-Rivières Mortgage Rates.

With so many Trois-Rivières homes below $200,000, home prices in the city remain affordable even as prices soar. The median single family home price in the 1st quarter of 2021 is now $205,000, up 21% from the same quarter in 2020, while the median condominium price is $166,250, up 37%, and the median plex price is $185,000, up 10%.

Compared to the other major cities in Quebec, Trois-Rivières home prices still are some of the lowest even with the recent move higher in prices:

As people across Quebec are looking for an affordable place to purchase a home and are migrating away from Montreal, home prices and the demand for homes in Trois Rivières should continue to benefit.

As single family homes have been popular with homebuyers and as Trois-Rivières has seen the number of single family homes on the market fall by 51% in the 1st quarter of 2021, housing starts in the city have shifted away from building condos to building more single and semi-detached homes. The total number of housing units being built in the city has risen to 291 year-to-date in 2021 from 224 at the same time in 2020. As building continues at a rapid pace, and as people renting and living in other cities look to move somewhere more affordable and with a less competitive housing market, Trois-Rivières should be primed to benefit from this added demand.

Because of very affordable homes in the region, Trois-Rivières has some of the lowest rents in all of Quebec. Surprisingly, it also has one of the lowest vacancy rates in the province but that hasn't led to large-scale rent increases. The average rental rate for an apartment in 2020 was $604, which only moved up by 1.3% from $596 in 2019. The vacancy rate in 2020 was also 1.3%, which was even lower than the vacancy rate in 2019 of 2.3%. This super low vacancy rate can be explained by the number of rentals on the market only growing by 1.3%, while the population itself grew by 1.5% in 2020. With very affordable home prices in the Trois-Rivières region and a continued tight rental market, purchasing may be the best choice if you are planning on living in the region over the long term.

Also referred to as the “Welcome Tax”, municipalities across Quebec have their own municipal land transfer tax rates. Trois-Rivières land transfer tax rate is the following:

With the average single family home price in the city being just $205,000 and the average condominium being $166,250, land transfer taxes owed would be $1786 and $1399 respectively. With other closing costs besides land transfer taxes having a flat fee, including: lawyer and legal fees, a home inspection, a property appraisal fee, and a property survey fee, you can expect to pay ~3% of your home purchase price in total closing costs.

Originally settled in 1634, Trois-Rivières is the 3rd oldest settlement in Canada behind only St.John’s and Quebec City. Trois-Rivières' unique name comes from its proximity to the Maurice River, which has 3 different river channels flowing into the St.Lawrence River, hence the name “Trois-Rivières”. The population of Trois-Rivières in 2020 is 163,287 people, with the city growing through migration with the total population up 1.5% from 2019. The bulk of this migration is from international migration, with 1436 new people coming through this way, along with 1132 new people migrating from other areas of Quebec to the city. As the trend of moving further beyond Montreal continues, Trois-Rivières’ population and economy should continue to benefit, leading to a higher demand for housing. Finally, The city has a vibrant downtown area with many different cafes, restaurants, shops, bars and nightclubs, which makes the area a popular entertainment district that many local residents love.

Over recent years, Trois-Rivières’ central location between the big cities of Quebec City and Montreal has helped to re-establish its industrial economy. The city has also moved from being heavily reliant on the pulp and paper industry up until the 1960s, to now being a diversified manufacturing city. Currently, the largest employers are in the public sector for education, public administration, and healthcare. The largest private sector employers in Trois-Rivières in 2020 were Marmen Inc, a manufacturer for wind towers that employs ~900 people, Barrette Structural, a home framing manufacturer that employs ~800 people, and Kruger, a pulp and paper company who employs ~600 people. As Trois-Rivières economy continues to attract investment in the industrial sector, the demand to live in the city especially from blue-collar workers will increase the overall housing demand.

Homebuyers in Trois-Rivières will need to consider the property tax rates in the city, which was 1.3274% in 2020, down 0.0896% from 1.4170% in 2019. Property taxes in Trois-Rivières are usually paid monthly along with your mortgage payment, meaning that the higher your property tax amount is, the less leftover income you will have to make monthly mortgage principal and interest payments. For more information on how the amount of property taxes you will pay will affect your mortgage amount, see WOWA’s mortgage affordability calculator.