Will the PQ really impact Montreal property values?
|
MONTREAL—Some observers of the Montreal real estate market say potential home buyers are holding off until they know who wins the Sept. 4 provincial election.
The market traditionally slows in summer and new regulations concerning mortgages have been imposed but some brokers say buyers are also taking a wait-and-see attitude to protect their investment or maybe get a better price after Sept. 4.
It's the type of news that would rankle the Parti Quebecois, which has had warnings of a flight of economic capital and an exodus of anglophones used against it since the 1970s.
Monique Assouline, a real-estate broker who works in Montreal's west end, says she's had both anglophone and francophone clients tell her they're not buying anything until after the election is decided.
"Their main fear is that the PQ government will win and that the separation issue will come back up and that the prices are going to fall down," she said.
Assouline said buyers fear property values will plummet amid an exodus of residents from the mainly English-speaking areas such as after the 1976 election, the first time the PQ took power.
"They're afraid to buy in this area right now."
