Quebec City's Housing Crisis: Sales Plunge Amid Historic Home Shortage

QUEBEC CITY, QC – February 05, 2026 – The Quebec City real estate market has entered 2026 in a paradoxical state: residential sales are plummeting, yet the market has never been more fiercely in favor of sellers. A new report for January reveals an 18% year-over-year drop in transactions, a decline driven not by waning interest, but by a historic and worsening shortage of available properties that continues to push home prices to record levels and test the limits of affordability for thousands of hopeful buyers.

Data released by the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) shows that only 522 residential sales were concluded in the Quebec City Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) last month. This slowdown was felt across all property types, with single-family home sales falling 21%, condominiums down 14%, and plexes dropping 17%. The decline in activity was widespread, affecting the South Shore (-31%), the Agglomeration of Quebec City (-15%), and the Northern Periphery (-7%).

The Anatomy of a Record-Breaking Shortage

For the 24th consecutive month, the supply of properties for sale has contracted, reaching what QPAREB calls its "lowest level ever recorded." The scarcity is most acute in the single-family home and plex segments, which saw inventory shrink by 17% and 6% respectively. This prolonged drought of listings has left the market with an unprecedentedly low number of months of inventory, creating intense competition for the few homes that do become available.

Historical data provides stark context for the current scarcity. In 2025, the Quebec City CMA averaged just 1,800 active listings, a figure less than one-third of the region's typical inventory levels over the past decade. This severe imbalance has firmly entrenched market conditions that overwhelmingly favor sellers, with homes selling in an average of just 40 days.

“January’s data for the Quebec City area confirms that the decline in sales is a continuation of the trend seen at the end of 2025 and remains primarily driven by the historic shortage of properties for sale,” explained Charles Brant, QPAREB's Market Analysis Director, in a statement. “Inventory has reached an unprecedented low, particularly for single-family homes and plexes, severely limiting transactional activity.”

A Generational Squeeze on Affordability

The extreme scarcity is exerting relentless upward pressure on prices, raising serious questions about the future of homeownership for a generation of buyers. In January alone, the median price for a single-family home surged by 12% year-over-year, while condominiums saw an even steeper climb of 15%. Plexes also became more expensive, with a 9% rise in their median price.

This environment has normalized the practice of overbidding, where buyers offer significantly more than the asking price to secure a property. While the frenzy has cooled slightly from its peak in spring 2025, nearly three in ten properties sold in January still went for more than 5% above their listed price. This reality is stretching household budgets to their breaking point and sidelining many potential buyers.

This deterioration of affordability is contributing to what some stakeholders have warned could become a wider "social imbalance." As the dream of ownership recedes, many are forced into an equally competitive rental market, further straining the region's housing ecosystem. “In this context of extreme scarcity, upward pressure on prices remains very strong, and affordability is becoming an increasingly decisive issue for buyers,” noted Camille Laberge, QPAREB's Assistant Director and Senior Economist. While stabilized interest rates offer some predictability, they do little to solve the fundamental problem: there are simply not enough homes.

The Condo Conundrum: A Glimmer of Hope?

Amidst the bleak landscape of dwindling inventory, one data point offers a flicker of intrigue: active condominium listings increased by 5% in January. This marks the first time this segment has seen a rise in supply since September 2023. While a modest increase, it raises questions about whether a "two-speed market" is emerging.

This detail is particularly interesting when viewed through a historical lens. A decade ago, in the mid-2010s, Quebec City’s condo market was characterized as a "buyers' market," with a glut of inventory that had more than doubled between 2012 and 2016. The current situation is a dramatic reversal, but the recent uptick in listings could signal a potential shift.

For now, it remains a silver lining rather than a solution. The pressure on single-family homes and plexes remains intense, and the small increase in condo supply is unlikely to alleviate the broader market imbalance. It may, however, offer a slight reprieve for buyers specifically targeting condominiums, or it could be a temporary anomaly in a market still defined by scarcity.

Can New Construction Break the Deadlock?

With demand consistently outstripping supply, all eyes are turning to new construction to solve the crisis. However, the path to building more homes is riddled with significant obstacles. Nationally, housing starts have been hampered by high construction costs, labor shortages, and financing challenges for developers, who often must pre-sell up to 70% of a project before securing loans in a high-priced environment.

In Quebec, this has led to a notable pivot in the construction industry. Homebuilding is now increasingly dominated by purpose-built rental construction, which is supported by strong demand and government incentives, rather than ground-oriented ownership housing that the market desperately needs.

Local government is aware of the issue. In May 2025, Quebec City announced plans to authorize 2,850 new units, but such initiatives face long roads through zoning regulations, bureaucratic hurdles, and the same high costs plaguing developers. Experts suggest that without a fundamental overhaul of urban planning and a significant reduction in red tape, adding new supply will remain a slow and arduous process.

The market is therefore caught in a difficult bind. Buyers remain eager, but they are also becoming more cautious as affordability worsens. Sellers hold all the cards, but the lack of inventory means even they have few options if they wish to move within the same market. For Quebec City, the path out of its housing squeeze will depend on a long-term, concerted effort to build the homes its residents need, a challenge that will define its economic and social landscape for years to come.