Rent in Montreal: How much are you paying?

Montreal has areputation for being a town with good bang for your rental buck.

But in many neighbourhoodsthat's changing,and the days of a $500-a-month find may be a thing of the past.

"You will not find a tenantwho is going toleave a $500 or $600 rental and an owner that will be stupid enough to give upachance to raise the rent to market level," said HansBrouillette, director of public affairs for Quebec's property owners association,CORPIC.

As neighbourhoods shift and rents rise, how do you know if you're paying too much for your pad?

Radio-Canada crunched the numbers neighbourhood by neighbourhood, comparing 10,000 ads posted on the online classified siteKijijiandCanada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) datato give you an idea of what the average apartment is going for in your area.

• On mobile? See the interactive map here

Priciest rents: Downtown andle-des-Soeurs

The prize for Montreal's most costly rental living goes to the area that takes in downtown andle-des-Soeurs. On average, renters there pay $1,349 a month for their lodging (according to aKijijisample of 677 ads).

Even a studio apartment will set you back more than a grand. The average studio was $1,101, according to the 244 ad sample fromKijiji.

That may be because the area has a higher-than average share of new condos. Between 15 and 20 per cent of new units become rentals in downtown, compared to the rest of the island where the average is below 10 per cent.

Cheapest units: Montreal North, east island andLongueuil

It's no surprise that the further you get away from the city centre, the cheaper rent becomes. According to theKijijisurvey, these areas had the cheapest rents on average:

Montreal North: $682 (283 ad sample)

Pointe-aux-Trembles/Montral-Est/Rivire-des-Prairies: $722 (173 ad sample)

Longueuil: $748 $ (575 ad sample)

Changing city

Every year, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) surveys thousands of property owners to determine occupancy rates and average unit prices across the country.

How do the real-market prices fromKijijistack up? In Montreal, the gap is significant, especially in one of the fastest developing areas: the southwest and Verdun.

A studio in the formerly working-class area was $828 onKijiji, 70 per cent more than theCMHCaverage.

• On mobile? See the comparison map here

Mind the gap

Biggest difference (average across all unit sizes):

• Sud-Ouest/Verdun:+45 per cent (average price onKijiji$956,CMHC$660)
• Plateau-Mont-Royal:+39 per cent (average price onKijiji$1168, $841CMHC)
• Hochelaga-Maisonneuve:+35 per cent (average price onKijiji$907,CMHC$673)

Smallest gap (average across all unit sizes):

• Mirabel/Oka/Pointe-Calumet/Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac/Saint-Eustache/Saint-Joseph-du-Lac/Saint-Placide/Deux-Montagnes:+5 per cent (Kijijiaverage: $766,CMHC$731)
• Longueuil:+9 per cent (averageKijiji$748,CMHC$687)
• Beauharnois/La Prairie/Lry/Candiac/Chteauguay/Delson/Maple Grove/Melocheville/Mercier/Sainte-Catherine/Saint-Constant/Saint-Isidore/Saint-Mathieu/Saint-Philippe:+ 10 per cent (average priceKijiji$764,CMHC$694)

Find out more about the methodology used to create the rental maps here.