The REM (Metropolitan Electrical Network) is a large-scale infrastructure project that significantly expands and improves public transport options in the city of Montréal, a 21st Century venture, electric, fast and efficient. Automatic, driverless system, fully automated and monitored from the central control.
This mega project under construction is already having effects in many areas of the city, particularly in the real estate market.
REM basic facts: 26 stations, 4 directions, 67 kilometers
• Downtown to South Shore – 6 minutes
• Downtown to YUL Airport – 12 minutes
• Downtown to West-Island (Ste-Anne de Bellevue) – 15 minutes
• Downtown to Dorval and the North Shore (Deux Montagnes) – 15 minutes
Estimated cost of more than $7 billion CND. Projection of 200,00 daily trips.
The project will be completely interconnected with current services (Metro, suburban train, buses) allowing easy access to all corners of the city.
Rendered image of the last station to Ste-Anne de Bellevue in the West of the Island, next to Highway-40, access ramps for buses, parking spaces so that commuters can leave their vehicles and not take them to the center of the city, reducing emissions.
The first line in operation towards the South Shore, Brossard station, will start operating in the fall of 2022. The rest of the project will still take from 2 to 3 years to be completed
Throughout the city you can see the works and construction progress, it will have bridges, tunnels and elevated tracks, a complex network that will cross many areas of the city.
Real-estate market
The REM has clearly stimulated investments in construction in multi-residential projects, several areas of the city that did not have large construction projects have now been activated strongly, anticipating a greater demand directly in the surroundings of all the new stations, especially in the North and South Shores of the city, as well as in the West-Island.
We have already seen how in 2021 and 2022 the real estate market has grown with very strong demand, one of the reasons among others is the construction of the REM. This project increases the value of the properties and the assets of the owners, all of which boosts in a very positive way the economic growth of Montréal.
The lack of a fast connection to the airport has always been a problem, now there will finally be an agile option that will boost business and activities related to tourism, investment and facilitates professionals coming to the city for business.
It will be a real change; Montreal will have a before and after with the REM that will allow growth and improvement of income and quality of life in our city to continue in the long term.
Video that summarizes the REM project in a few seconds:
https://youtu.be/2-H5hq-1yS0
This column is made for general and informative purposes, with no other purpose than that of enlighten the reader on real estate aspects in the Province of Quebec. the reader remains invited to seek concrete answers to their needs with the advice of their trusted professional.
