Trois-Rivieres' plex boom is becoming a volume story

More deals, a less dramatic median

In Q1, the metropolitan area's plex median price was 27% above a year earlier, even as total residential sales fell 6%. By Q2, plex transactions had risen 48% to 80, but their median price was only 3% above the previous spring. Those figures measure different quarterly transaction samples. They establish a change in the mix of market signals, not a 24% fall in the value of an unchanged building. [Q1 2026 regional market release] [Q2 2026 provincial and regional market release]

Alongside that shift, average active listings across all residential categories grew 7% year over year in Q1 and 34% in Q2. The combination suggests a market accommodating more transactions and more options, rather than one in which every additional investor must pay a rapidly rising price. The retained winter release matters because it prevents the latest volume surge from being mistaken for an acceleration of the earlier price boom. [Q1 2026 regional market release] [Q2 2026 provincial and regional market release]

The city is stronger than its surrounding market

Q2 sales rose 12% in the city of Trois-Rivieres but fell 7% in the outer municipalities. The CMA total, 437 transactions, was up 9%. Investors should also separate income properties from houses: house median prices rose 7%, and houses sold in 21 days on average. Plexes took 29 days, three more than a year earlier. A stronger transaction count therefore does not establish that every type of property or location has gained equal bargaining power. [Q2 2026 provincial and regional market release]

Financing can test the investment case without stopping sales

Quebec's total residential sales fell 5% in Q2, making the local increase unusual within the province. APCIQ nevertheless reports weaker employment among 25-to-54-year-olds and slower population growth, both potential constraints on future rental absorption. Nationally, September's Bank of Canada decision held the policy rate at 2.25%, while longer-term yields had risen since July. An income-property purchase still has to work against actual debt costs and collected rents. Stronger transaction volume supplies neither a rent roll nor evidence that higher financing costs can be passed to tenants. [Q2 2026 provincial and regional market release] [Bank of Canada September decision]

Forecast: active trading, slower price leadership

Through March 2027, the base case is that plex median-price growth will stay below its exceptional Q1 pace even if transaction activity remains comparatively firm. That assumes stable local employment and continued availability of financing. A renewed double-digit plex price-growth rate across both forthcoming quarters, supported by shorter selling times rather than a handful of high-value sales, would challenge the call. Higher vacancy or weaker employment would create downside beyond this forecast. The absence of matched building-level transactions keeps confidence low. [Q1 2026 regional market release] [Q2 2026 provincial and regional market release] [Bank of Canada September decision]