Surplus is second highest recorded since 2012
Montreal’s real estate boom has led to the city recording another budget surplus in 2018.
Montreal recorded a surplus every year since 2014, according to CBC News. In 2018, the surplus reached $212.7 million, primarily driven by the growth of the real estate market – and substantially above 2017’s surplus of $139.5 million.
“[The] real estate market is very, very, very good for Montrealers,' Benoit Dorais, executive committee chair of Montreal told CBC News. The city official pointed to revenue from the welcome taxes on newly-purchased property as taking up nearly half of the surplus amount.
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The surplus is the second-highest recorded since 2012 and amounts to roughly $130 per resident, according to a report by The Montreal Gazette. However, Dorais cautioned city residents not to expect that the money will be given back to them.
“The needs in Montreal are very big,” Dorais told the Gazette. “We have a lot of investments we have to make, and we have to keep money to realize the priorities of Montrealers in terms of mobility, the preservation of the environment, and economic development.”
