Plex: $690,000 Across Quebec, $874,000 in Montreal — The Q2 2026 Gap

The plex remains the most contrasted property type in Quebec. Its quarterly median reaches $690,000 province-wide and $874,000 in the Montreal area. We reported a monthly record of $880,000 in June in our article on the June 2026 high: both numbers coexist without contradiction, and the next section explains why.

$874,000 and $880,000: two measures, no decline

Clear this up first, because it produces an immediate misreading. The $880,000 we published in July is a median for the single month of June 2026. The $874,000 discussed here is a quarterly median, calculated across the three months of the second quarter.

A quarterly median therefore covers April, May and June. By construction it smooths monthly peaks and almost always sits below the best month of the period. Moving from $880,000 to $874,000 describes no pullback: it is the same market seen through two different focal lengths. Comparing a month against a quarter is the most frequent reading error in housing statistics.

The rule applies to any market tracking: only compare figures of the same granularity. A month with a month, a quarter with a quarter. Both series are useful; they do not mix.

The gap is widening: 5% against 2%

The notable fact of the quarter is not the level of the medians, it is their speed. The Montreal plex rose 5% year over year, the provincial plex 2%. Metropolitan growth is therefore more than twice as fast, and the gap between the two territories widens mechanically.

In dollars, that gap amounts to $184,000 on the median. An investor comparing a Montreal acquisition with a regional one is therefore not comparing two versions of the same product at different prices: they are comparing two markets whose trajectories diverge.

The explanation lies in the nature of the plex itself. Unlike a single-family home, it is not valued first on its own qualities but on the income it produces. That income depends on the tenant pool of the immediate sector, and that pool is denser across the metropolitan territory. Valuation follows rental demand, not square footage.

43 days everywhere: the one type indifferent to territory

The median selling time for a plex is 43 days across Quebec, and 43 days in the Montreal metropolitan area. This is not a recording coincidence: it is the only property type whose selling speed does not vary by geography in the second quarter of 2026.

The other two types behave differently. Single-family homes sell faster in Montreal than province-wide, while condominiums take longer there. The plex does not move.

That stability comes from the buyer profile. A plex speaks to an investor or an owner-occupant who runs numbers, compares yields and takes time to verify leases. That process has its own duration, largely independent of local residential market tension. Where a house buyer decides on an impulse accelerated by competition, a plex buyer advances at the pace of their analysis.

What the gap does not tell an investor

A cheaper plex is not a more profitable plex. Price is only one term of the calculation, and the other term, income, appears in no median statistic. A building bought $184,000 cheaper outside the metro may generate proportionally lower rents, experience different vacancy and carry expenses that follow another scale.

A median locates a market; it never values a building. Valuing a plex takes the actual leases, the past year's expenses, the condition of the structure and the applicable zoning. Two neighbouring buildings at the same asking price can carry very different yields.

What the quarter suggests going forward

The plex is weathering the slowdown better than other types. While transaction volume falls across the Quebec market, its median rises in both geographies and its selling time holds steady. That is the profile of a segment whose demand does not rest on the same drivers as conventional residential.

For an owner considering a sale, the reading is rather favourable: valuation holds and timing has not drifted. For a buyer it is more demanding: in a market where prices rise and selling time does not stretch, negotiating room stays narrow, particularly across the metropolitan territory.