The Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, Purchased her First Home for $770,000 Mortgage-Free in 2006

The Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, who suggested to dissatisfied tenants to invest in real estate, accessed the property through the front door. She bought her first home for $770,000 in 2006, mortgage-free.

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She and her spouse, both tax experts, have gone from renting an apartment in Old Montreal to owning an opulent residence in L’Île-des-Sœurs.

For fifteen years, the couple used their L’Île-des-Sœurs residence as financial leverage and invested in other properties, before selling it in May 2022, for $2.4 million.

In 2006, the average price of a new house in the greater Montreal area was $298,000. Today, the average price is $593,000.

“If someone buys a house in [770 000$] counting in 2006, and even today in fact, is that she comes from an environment that has a lot of money or has saved a lot of money. It’s almost impossible,” says financial advisor and president of ASF Wealth Management, Michel-Olivier Marcoux.

Far from the middle class

Jean-Philippe Meloche, professor at the School of Urban Planning at the University of Montreal, said the minister’s experience is unusual for first-time buyers.

“We agree that it is not ordinary mortals who can afford that. Having $770,000 dormant in a bank account is not at all what the middle class is capable of,” says Mr. Meloche.

At the time of its purchase, France-Élaine Duranceau was 31 years old and was senior director of taxes at Transcontinental.

“This information concerns the private life of Ms. Duranceau. There will be no comments in this regard,” replied his press officer, Philippe Couture, when asked about this transaction.

“You cannot use a right that is not yours, to assign a lease to someone else, on terms that you decide when it is not your building. The tenant who wants to do that, well, he has to invest in real estate and take the risks that go with it.” — France-Élaine Duranceau interviewed at Noovo, June 12

Rare

Acquiring a property without a mortgage is a rather rare occurrence, believes Michel-Olivier Marcoux.

“It’s a minority of people who can afford it. It’s not something that happens regularly. Among the first buyers, it never happened to me,” he says.

According to Mr. Meloche, “people who do not need credit to access property have by far more favorable access”.

“That’s one of the problems right now. Those who have acquired capital all their life are outbidding and competing with young people who have no accumulated capital and want to enter the market, ”says the man who is a member of the Ivanhoé Cambridge Observatory of urban and real estate development.

Mr. Marcoux explains that access to property has become so difficult that young people “with good salaries” need the help of their parents to put down a sufficient down payment.

“For 5 years, I have seen more and more of them. 20% of a $500,000 property is $100,000. It is not easy to accumulate, especially with the rents which are still expensive”, he recalls.