How do I choose the best mortgage broker in Montreal?+
Compare six things. Licensing — every brokerage and agent is on a public register (AMF in Quebec), so verify rather than take a badge on a website at face value. Lender access — how many lenders can they actually place with, and does that include B and private lenders if your file needs one? Reviews you can check at the source, not screenshots. Rate options — will they show you fixed and variable, and explain the trade-off rather than steer you? Communication — who answers when something goes wrong two days before closing? And local experience — someone who works Montreal files knows which lenders price this market's property types well. Two more that only apply in Quebec, and that are worth asking before anything on the list above. Language: will the mortgage documents themselves be produced in French, or only the conversation? Several monoline lenders deliver in English only, and a broker should tell you which before you pick a rate rather than at signing. The notarial closing: your file is registered by a notaire you appoint, not by a lawyer, and a broker who has not worked a Quebec closing will not know how the instructions and the disbursement differ. And one question with a checkable answer, which is the fastest way to find out whether a broker actually works this market: ask what the welcome tax will be on your Montreal purchase. On the local median of $835,000 it is about $12,049, because Montreal charges 2% on every dollar above $552,300 — a figure that is different in every Quebec municipality. Anyone who quotes you the provincial schedule instead has told you they do not. A broker who won't answer those plainly has told you something. Ask whether they have actually placed an indivis (undivided co-ownership) file. Much of the market declines that title outright and the rest prices it with a higher minimum down payment, so a broker who has never met one will not know which four or five lenders to approach.
Is it better to use a mortgage broker or a bank in Montreal?+
It depends on your profile, and any broker who says otherwise is selling. A bank can only offer you its own products and its own read of your file — which is genuinely fine if you're a straightforward salaried applicant with strong credit and your bank is competitive that week. A broker compares multiple lenders, which matters most when your file has an edge to it: self-employed income, newcomer credit, a bruised score, a condo the bank doesn't like, or a tight closing. In Montreal the question is usually not "bank or broker" but "my caisse or someone else": Desjardins is the largest mortgage lender in this province and most households here already bank with it, which makes a renewal offer feel like a relationship rather than a quote. It is a real lender with real strengths — an integrated notary network among them — and sometimes its offer is genuinely the best one on the table. The point of shopping is that you find that out instead of assuming it. The other Quebec-specific reason to compare is supply: not every national lender is active here, and several that are do not offer the same products or the same plex appetite in Quebec as they do in Ontario, which quietly shortens a branch's shelf without anyone saying so. It matters more in Montreal than the average Quebec market because of what people here actually buy: the largest single segment last quarter was condominium, 2,678 of 4,873 sales, and that is precisely the kind of file where one lender's policy and another's diverge — a syndicate's reserve fund, a rental offset, a registration status. A single credit policy either fits it or it does not. We shop 100+ lenders for Montreal clients and we'll tell you when your own bank's offer is already the best one on the table. See bank vs mortgage broker for the honest comparison. How much does a mortgage broker cost in Montreal?+
It depends on the lender and the product type. On most prime (A-lender) mortgages there is no direct borrower-paid broker fee — the lender compensates the brokerage on funding, which is why the service is typically free to you on a standard purchase, renewal or refinance. On a typical Montreal file — $668,000 borrowed against the ~$835,000 local median at 20% down — that means the entire cost of the advice sits on the lender's side of the ledger, not yours. Where a fee can apply is alternative lending: B-lender and private mortgage files often carry a brokerage and/or lender fee, because those deals take more work and the lender doesn't pay the same way. Anyone quoting you a fee before they've seen your file is guessing. Ours is disclosed in writing, in advance, every time — no fee should ever be a surprise at the lawyer's office. Indivis and plex files are also the ones most likely to end up with a B or private lender for reasons of title or unit count rather than credit, and those are the files where a broker fee does apply — we tell you before the application, not at the end of it.
Are you a mortgage broker or a mortgage agent in Montreal?+
Both terms apply. Mortgage Squad Advisors is an FSRA-licensed Ontario brokerage (#13737) serving clients across Canada. Quebec brokering is overseen by the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers), and Quebec files are processed by licensed mortgage professionals in your jurisdiction through our partner network, in compliance with its requirements. The regulated title here is courtier hypothécaire, and the AMF register is public, so you can verify anyone who tells you they hold it. Broker or agent, the file reaches the same 100+ lenders. New to brokers? See what a mortgage broker is and how they're paid. Is there a mortgage broker near me in Montreal?+
Yes. We arrange mortgages across every Montreal pocket — Plateau Mont-Royal, Ville-Marie, Outremont, Saint-Laurent and the rest — from our licensed office at 310-3100 Steeles Ave W in Vaughan.The neighbourhood table above sets out what the dominant property form in each pocket means for your financing. The file itself is placed by a mortgage professional licensed in Quebec, through our partner network, and Maya, our AI assistant, answers questions 24/7.
What are average closing costs in Montreal?+
Budget roughly 1.5% to 4% of the purchase price, on top of your down payment and payable in cash at closing. The stack is the same everywhere; the sizes differ. You pay Montreal’s municipal transfer duty — the “welcome tax” (droit de mutation), about $12,049 at the local median single-family home price, and billed by the city months AFTER you close rather than on closing day. Legal fees, title insurance, a home inspection and an appraisal make up most of the rest, plus adjustments reimbursing the seller for prepaid property tax and utilities. If you put less than 20% down, the default-insurance premium is financed onto your mortgage rather than paid in cash — but some provinces charge sales tax on that premium at closing. Quebec’s refundable first-time-buyer credit is worth up to $5,875 of transfer duties, but it is reduced progressively above a $750,000 home value — which the Montreal median single-family home price of $835,000 already exceeds, so budget the duty in full and treat any credit as upside. New-build purchases add builder adjustments — development levies, utility connections and enrolment fees — that are billed at final closing and aren't always capped in the agreement. We give you the exact cash-to-close for your Montreal file before you write an offer, and you can model the tax yourself with our land transfer tax calculator and closing costs calculator. Which neighbourhoods have the best value in Montreal?+
We don't publish per-neighbourhood price rankings, and you should be sceptical of any broker who does — a "best value" list is an opinion dressed as data, and prices at that granularity move faster than a web page. What we can tell you is the part that actually changes your mortgage: the dominant property form in a pocket decides how your file is underwritten. Condo-heavy areas mean the corporation is assessed alongside you — a review of the condominium corporation's disclosure documents can surface reserve-fund or special-assessment problems that stall an approval regardless of your income. Freehold pockets shift the risk to the appraisal, especially if you waive a financing condition to win. And areas whose typical price clears $1.5 million can't be default-insured at all, which makes 20% down the legal minimum rather than a choice. Quebec adds a second question that decides more files here than price does: whether a unit is held in divided (divise) or undivided (indivise) co-ownership. Undivided means you own a share of the whole building rather than a titled unit — ordinary in older Montréal and Québec City stock — and it is financed by a short list of lenders at a higher minimum down payment, so an apparently cheaper pocket can be the more expensive one to buy into. Plex stock raises the same kind of question: two to four units is residential lending with a rental offset, five crosses into commercial, and an unregistered conversion can fail an appraisal outright whatever the neighbourhood. One Montreal-specific number is worth having before you shortlist anywhere: the published medians across this market run from $483,500 to $910,000 — a $426,500 spread. That is wide enough that “what can I afford in this city” has no single answer, and the pocket you shortlist changes your down payment before it changes anything else. The table on this page shows every one of them. The table on this page maps each Montreal pocket to the consideration its property form triggers. Tell us the neighbourhoods you're weighing and we'll price the financing for each against your actual file. The three segments Centris publishes here sit further apart than the boroughs do — condominiums against plex is a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars — so in Montréal the question is which segment you are buying long before it is which neighbourhood.
How many homes sell in Montreal in a month?+
1,350 homes changed hands in Montreal in Q2 2026, per the Centris (APCIQ) Q2 2026, Island of Montréal (Single-family sales across the Island of Montréal, which is marginally wider than the city itself — it includes the demerged on-island municipalities. Centris publishes no all-types median, so the headline figure is the single-family one and the other categories are broken out below). The average listing took 41 days to sell — that's the board's average LDOM, meaning days on the current listing rather than days across relistings. Sales volume matters to you for one practical reason: it tells you how much competition to expect, and therefore whether you can realistically keep a financing condition in your offer or will be pushed to waive it. Waiving one moves appraisal risk from the lender onto you. We'd rather you go in pre-approved and keep the condition.
What's the minimum down payment for a home in Montreal?+
At Montreal's ~$835,000 median price, the legal minimum is $58,500 — 7.0%. It is tiered, not a flat 5%: 5% on the first $500,000 plus 10% on everything above that. This is the single most common budgeting error we see, because "5% minimum" is repeated everywhere and stops being true above $500,000. The default-insurance premium is then financed onto the mortgage rather than paid in cash. First-time buyers and new-build purchasers can also use a 30-year amortization on an insured mortgage, which lowers the payment your stress test is applied to. Run your own price band → On a plex the minimum is set by unit count rather than by price: two to four units is still residential lending, and a fifth unit moves the file to commercial rules and a materially larger down payment. How much income do I need to buy a home in Montreal?+
At Montreal's ~$835,000 median price with 20% down at today's lowest 5-year fixed on our network (4.14%), you'd need roughly $147,000 in household income to qualify after the stress test — less with a co-applicant or a larger down payment, more if you carry other debt. We'll model your exact file in minutes.
How do lenders decide how much mortgage I qualify for in Montreal?+
Lenders run two debt-service ratios. Your GDS ratio (Gross Debt Service) — housing costs (mortgage payment, property tax, heat, plus half of any condo fees) measured against gross income — generally has to stay under about 39%, and your TDS ratio (Total Debt Service), which adds car loans, credit cards and other debt, under about 44%. Both are tested at the stress-test rate: the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%. On a Montreal purchase at the ~$835,000 median with 20% down, that means a lender qualifies you on a payment of about $4,330 a month rather than the $3,565 you would actually pay at today's 4.14% 5-year fixed — which is why the household income the test demands lands near $147,000. Pay down other debt or add a co-applicant and that budget rises. Our GDS & TDS guide and stress test guide show the full math, or run your numbers and an advisor will check them with you. On a Montréal plex the rental offset a lender applies to the other units moves your qualifying amount further than your salary does, and the offset differs by lender. Should I choose a fixed-rate or variable-rate mortgage in Montreal?+
It depends on your risk tolerance and rate outlook, and anyone who answers it without seeing your file is guessing. A fixed-rate mortgage locks your rate and payment for the whole term — predictable, and the popular choice when rates are uncertain. A variable-rate mortgage moves with the lender's prime rate (which tracks the Bank of Canada policy rate); it often starts lower and can save money if rates fall, but your payment or amortization shifts if they rise. Here is what the spread is worth on a Montreal-sized mortgage: on $668,000 over a five-year term, half a point costs $15,981 more in interest and lost principal than the sharpest rate on our board today. That is the number the fixed-versus-variable argument is actually about. Terms run 1, 2, 3 and 5 years. See our fixed vs variable and 3- vs 5-year term breakdowns, and we'll compare both on your real numbers. What credit score do I need for a mortgage in Montreal?+
For the best A-lender rates, most lenders look for a credit score of about 680 or higher. Scores in the 600s can still qualify, often at a slightly higher rate or with more down payment. Below the low 600s, B-lenders and private lenders take over — many work with scores down to roughly 500 on an equity-based approval, with a plan to move you back to A-pricing in 12–24 months. What that costs in Montreal specifically: a B-lender file is typically capped at 80% of value, so on the ~$835,000 local median you would need about $167,000 down rather than the $58,500 an insured A-lender file allows. The gap between those two numbers is the real price of a bruised score here. Our credit score guide explains the bands, and we'll tell you exactly where your Montreal file stands. This is also the widest gap in Quebec between the insured minimum and the cash a B-lender expects, so at this price band a score in the 600s becomes a down-payment question before it is a rate question. What's the typical home price in Montreal?+
The median single-family home price in Montreal is approximately $835,000 — Island of Montréal median price, single-family homes — Centris (APCIQ), as of Q2 2026. The same release records 1,350 sales in the quarter and an average of 41 days to sell. A median is not an average: it is the middle transaction, so half of everything that sold went for less. It is also published per property form rather than across the whole market — the condominium and plex medians behind this one sit well apart from it, and the table on this page shows all of them. What the median IS good for is the arithmetic on this page — the $58,500 minimum down payment and the ~$147,000 qualifying income are both computed from it. We model your file at the price band you are actually shopping.
How much is the welcome tax on a home in Montreal?+
About $12,049 at Montreal's $835,000 median single-family home price. Quebec legislates only the first three brackets of the transfer duty — 0.5% to $62,900, 1% to $315,000, then 1.5% — and lets each municipality set its own rate on the portion above $500,000, capped at 3% for every city except Montréal. In Montreal that municipal rate is 2% on every dollar above $552,300. Montréal is the only municipality in Quebec permitted to charge above 3%, and its grid runs to 4%. The 2% band starts at $552,300 — well below what a typical island single-family purchase costs. The timing is the part that catches people who have bought elsewhere in Canada: the city issues this bill months after your closing date rather than collecting it on the day, it has to be paid in cash, and it cannot be added to your mortgage — so it is not part of your cash-to-close, it is a separate line in the months that follow. Quebec's new first-time-buyer credit is worth up to $5,875 of that duty, but it is reduced progressively once the home's value passes $750,000 and is nil at $1,000,000 — and $835,000 is already past the first of those. The province has not published the reduction formula, so we won't print a figure we'd be guessing at. Montreal's own published grid, and our Quebec welcome tax calculator, both carry the full schedule. What documents do I need for a mortgage in Montreal?+
Standard Canadian mortgage documents: two pieces of government photo ID, two years of T4s and Notices of Assessment, recent pay stubs, 90-day proof of down-payment funds, and your purchase agreement once you have one. The 90-day rule catches more Montreal buyers than anything else on that list — at a $58,500 minimum down payment, every dollar has to be traced, and a large deposit that appeared last week needs a paper trail or a gift letter before a lender will count it. Self-employed, newcomer and rental-income files each add their own list. We send you a precise one after a five-minute intake rather than a generic checklist. An indivis purchase adds the co-ownership agreement and the building's own financials, and a plex adds the leases for every unit you are not living in.
Do you work with first-time buyers in Montreal?+
Yes — they are a core part of our practice. We help you stack the programs: the FHSA (up to $40,000 lifetime contribution room, tax-deductible), the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan with its 15-year repayment, first-time-buyer land transfer tax rebates where Quebec offers them, and insured paths below 20% down. Under the 2024 rules, 30-year amortization is available to first-time buyers and on new-build purchases, which lowers the payment your stress test is applied to. In Montreal the arithmetic works out like this: $58,500 is your legal minimum down payment on the ~$835,000 median, and a full FHSA plus an HBP withdrawal — $40,000 and up to $60,000 per person — covers it outright for most couples buying here. We run a stress-test simulation before you write any offer. The realistic first purchase on the island is usually a condominium: it is the segment that actually turns over here, at a little over half the single-family median. Who regulates mortgage brokers in Quebec?+
Mortgage brokering in Quebec is regulated by the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers). Mortgage Squad Advisors is licensed by FSRA in Ontario (Brokerage #13737) and serves clients across Canada: Quebec files are processed by licensed mortgage professionals in your jurisdiction through our partner network, in compliance with the AMF requirements. You can verify any broker on the public register kept by the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers).
How long does pre-approval take in Montreal?+
Most clients have a written pre-approval within 24 to 72 hours of sending documents. Start a mortgage pre-approval estimate — no credit pull — in 60 seconds for a quick ballpark; the formal pre-approval needs a credit pull and an underwriting review. Speed is worth more in some markets than others, and Montreal tells you which kind it is: the average listing here took 41 days to sell in Q2 2026, per the Centris (APCIQ) Q2 2026, Island of Montréal. At that pace you can usually keep a financing condition in your offer — which is where you want to be, because waiving one moves appraisal risk off the lender and onto you. We would rather you went in pre-approved and kept the condition. Do you handle complex files like self-employed or new-to-Canada in Montreal?+
Yes — they are most of what a broker is for. Montreal financing runs in French and English by necessity, and the city's signature duplex and triplex stock makes owner-occupied multi-unit purchases a core local file. Plateau and Verdun condos serve first-timers while NDG and Saint-Laurent anchor the detached and family market. The Q2 2026 Centris release puts the island's single-family median at $835,000 against $483,500 for a condominium — two products, not two views of one market. Self-employed, newcomer, multi-unit, alt-A and private files are all in our daily flow, and each one is a lender-selection problem before it is a rate problem: the spread between the lender who reads your income most accurately and the one who reads it most conservatively is far wider than the spread between their posted rates. In Quebec the file is placed by a partner professional licensed in the province who works that file type. Multi-unit is the routine file in Montréal rather than the exception — the plex stock makes an owner-occupied two- to four-unit purchase an ordinary first mortgage here.
What rates can I get in Montreal today?+
The sharpest 5-year fixed across our network today is approximately 4.14%, with variable around 3.00%. Rates do not vary by city — the same lenders price the same products across Quebec — so treat any "Montreal rate" as our network rate applied to your file. What IS local is the size of the mortgage it sits on: on $668,000, which is 80% of the ~$835,000 local median, each quarter-point is real money over a five-year term. See the rate-gap table on this page for the exact figure. Your own rate depends on income, credit, loan-to-value and property type. Our live Montreal rates board has the full ladder. 