Bienvenue à bord the train to complete exasperation with meteoric real estate prices. A map of the Montreal REM (Réseau express métropolitain) showing property price tags around every station might temper your dreams of owning a large, rail transit-accessible home.

The map, put together by local broker Charlyse Amoussou (@immocharlyse) using data from Centris, lists median 2021 and Q1 2022 selling prices for three-bedroom houses in the area around each of the REM's planned 26 stations in Montreal, Laval, the North and South Shores.

Median three-bedroom house prices around Montreal-area REM stations.Courtesy of Charlyse Amoussou

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the stations with the highest nearby prices are in the Town of Mont-Royal. Three-bedroom houses around Canora and Ville-de-Mont-Royal stations had a median price of $1.888 million in 2021 and $1.966 million in the first quarter of 2022.

List of median three-bedroom house prices around Montreal-area REM stations.Courtesy of Charlyse Amoussou

For the lowest prices look to Panama station on the South Shore ($439,000 in 2021 and $550,000 in Q1 2022) or the stations along the North Shore branch of the light-rail network. Around the stops in the suburb of Deux-Montagnes, the median price of three-bedroom houses was $487,000 in 2021 and $503,500 in Q1 2022.

List of median three-bedroom house prices around Montreal-area REM stations.Courtesy of Charlyse Amoussou

Amoussou also compared the variations in median prices between 2021 and 2022. Around Du Quartier station on the South Shore, the median price of surrounding three-bedroom homes increased by a whopping 51.66% — though it's unclear if there were outliers that could have affected that number.

Map of variations in median three-bedroom house prices around Montreal-area REM stations between 2021 and 2022.Courtesy of Charlyse Amoussou

On June 20, 2022, the company behind the REM project, CDPQ Infra, postponed the opening dates for two of the network's branches. Though the South Shore segment, between Brossard and the Gare Centrale in downtown Montreal, was at the time still projected to open in 2022. The central, West Island and North Shore segments, from the Gare Centrale to Anse-à-L'Orme and Deux-Montagnes, weren't scheduled to open until the end of 2024.

As of July 2023, the REM is only now gearing up to open its first phase of service, reaching the South Shore from Central Station, sometime in the coming weeks. According to CDPQ Infra vice-president Denis Andlauer, the transit time between Brossard and Central Station is estimated at 18 minutes, he told the Montreal Gazette in May.

All 26 stations, including those reaching Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue and Deux-Montagnes as well as those serving YUL airport, are set to be open by 2027, at which point housing prices will no doubt shock us all.