Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press “Ensuring the transparency of purchase offers is a zero-cost, simple, pragmatic solution, which would remove weight from the shoulders of an entire generation,” argued the co-spokesperson from Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Thursday morning.
Isabelle Porter in Quebec
February 8, 2024
- Quebec
A motion from Québec solidaire which aimed to put an end to blind purchase offers was rejected by all the other parties in the National Assembly on Thursday morning. In both the Liberal Party of Quebec and the Parti Québécois, we recommend other ways of facilitating access to property.
“Ensuring the transparency of purchase offers is a zero-cost, simple, pragmatic solution, which would take the weight off the shoulders of an entire generation,” said argue the co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Thursday morning.
Due to the overheated market, blind offers cause potential buyers to bid well above the price expected by the seller. The phenomenon is particularly widespread in the greater Montreal region. The motion presented by Québec solidaire on Wednesday aimed to force real estate brokers to make offers public in order to curb the phenomenon.
On Wednesday, CAQ and Liberals had already suggested that they intended to vote against. The Parti Québécois abstained from speaking out on Thursday.
During parliamentary debates on Wednesday, the Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, maintained “that such a measure could have a negative economic impact for several households and that the main element which determines the sale price of 'a house is the buyer's budget'. She added that making offers transparent could “incentivize some buyers to exceed their maximum budget, following a ripple effect.”
Also read
- QS relaunches its Solidarity Pact for first real estate purchases
- A race for real estate bidding in the suburbs
- Interactive | Have property prices increased or decreased near you?
The Liberal housing spokesperson, Virginie Dufour, argued for her part that such a measure has produced few results abroad. “Wherever it has been implemented, […] like in Australia, in New Zealand, it is always in favor of the sellers, because, in reality, it is the price which prevails over the stay. »
His PQ counterpart, Joël Arseneau, for his part mocked the solidarity position by arguing that Mr. Nadeau-Dubois had just “discovered” the reality of the first buyers and that there is “not only the right of tenants that we must defend.”
During its caucus in Alma last January, the Parti Québécois announced that it intended to launch a “national project” in terms of housing. The party also plans to present a plan on February 11 intended to facilitate access to property.