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Friends and family in Vancouver like to post envy-inducing beauty shots of cherry blossoms in early spring when I’m still scraping frost off my windshield and bracing for the next round of ice storms. I like to retaliate by posting links to homes for sale in my neighbourhood.

Our spring weather may not compare, but Montreal buyers have Vancouverites beat when it comes to house prices.

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Young professionals in Vancouver earn salaries that are a bit higher than Montreal (StatsCan reports median employment income for full-time workers in 2015 was $54,955 in the Vancouver CMA compared with $49,292 in Montreal), but the difference in cost of living is dramatically less here.

Mathematically, there’s no doubt the odds are in our favour. Not only do daycare, groceries and gas cost less, but home prices in Montreal are about one-third that of Vancouver. In the Q1 2019 Royal LePage House Price Survey, the aggregate price of a home in Greater Montreal Area was $406,332, while the aggregate price of a home in Greater Vancouver was $1,239,306.