Ahuntsic-Cartierville: A Duplex Sells for the Price of a House

In Ahuntsic-Cartierville, a duplex, with its two units, sells for the same median price as a single-family house: $930,000 versus $920,000, across 705 actual sales recorded in the CourtiConnect database from February 22, 2025 to September 5, 2026. Our Ahuntsic real estate market overview covers the borough as a whole; this article isolates a single trade-off, the one facing a buyer torn between a duplex and a house on the same budget.

Median prices by property type, across 705 sales

The table brings together the five property types sold in the borough over the period. The p25–p75 range gives the middle half of prices: a quarter of sales fall below it, a quarter above.

Source: actual sales in the CourtiConnect database, Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough, February 22, 2025 to September 5, 2026, 705 sales. Medians; range not calculated for 4-to-5-unit plexes and condos in this extract.

Duplex vs house: a $10,000 gap, and the single-family house is not one product

The median gap between a duplex and a single-family house is $10,000, about 1%. At the borough's price level, that is a tie. But the single-family category groups styles that do not sell for the same price, and separating them is what makes the duplex's position clear.

Source: actual sales in the CourtiConnect database, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, February 22, 2025 to September 5, 2026.

The duplex therefore sits between the bungalow and the two-storey house: pricier than a bungalow, slightly cheaper than a two-storey, clearly cheaper than a split-level. For a buyer, that means a duplex is a genuine option on a two-storey budget. Both building families are also from the same era: median year built 1955 for houses, 1956 for duplexes.

A tighter range, and nearly half of duplexes below the median house price

The middle half of duplexes sold went for between $850,000 and $1,050,000, a $200,000 spread. For single-family houses, it runs from $765,750 to $1,268,750, a $503,000 spread. The duplex is a more uniform product: its prices hold within a narrower band, while houses span a wide variety of styles and sizes.

Another useful benchmark: of the 123 duplexes sold, 55 went for less than $920,000, the median house price. A little under half of duplexes were therefore within reach of a buyer with the median house budget.

Faster sales and a higher sale-to-list ratio

Duplexes also sell faster: a median of 39.5 days on market, compared with 48 days for houses. Their median sale-to-list ratio is 0.983, versus 0.977 for houses. Both measures point the same way: over the period, duplexes found buyers more quickly and with a slightly smaller median discount from the asking price.

Larger plexes behave differently: triplexes show a median of 60 days and a 0.974 ratio, 4-to-5-unit buildings 67.5 days and 0.962. The duplex sits closer to the single-family house than to other income properties.

For the undecided buyer: rental income or space

At a comparable price, the question is not which property is worth more, but what the buyer wants for the money. A duplex gives one unit to live in and a second unit rented or to rent; a house gives all the space to a single household.

• Rental income is checked on paper. It depends on the lease in place, its date and its renewal terms: ask for the leases and count only what is written in them.
• Financing is worked out with the lender. The share of rent a lender agrees to count toward qualification varies from lender to lender: get it confirmed before making an offer.
• Space is compared unit by unit. A duplex unit and a house at the same price do not give the occupant the same living area: visit with your real use in mind.
• The building needs a full inspection, including the rented unit, which becomes yours too once the purchase closes.

For sellers, and the limits of this reading

Someone selling a duplex in Ahuntsic-Cartierville is not competing only with other duplexes: at this price level, buyers are also looking at two-storey houses and bungalows. The marketing works better when it presents both possible uses, owner-occupation and income, rather than just one.

For setting the asking price, a duplex seller has a useful benchmark: the median sale-to-list ratio of 0.983 means that, over the period, half of duplexes sold for at least 98.3% of their asking price. An asking price set well above comparable sales does not benefit from that margin: it lengthens the time on market, when the duplex's median of 39.5 days is precisely one of its advantages over a house. A seller also gains by gathering the leases, rent notices and maintenance invoices before listing, since the buyer and their lender will ask for them anyway, and a file that is ready from day one avoids weeks of back-and-forth once an offer is accepted.

• these figures add up the whole period with no breakdown over time: they do not describe a trend;
• they are area medians and ranges that set the value of no specific property;
• they compare whole buildings; price relative to the number of units is a separate question, covered in our article on price per unit by building size.