There was a 30% rise in the number of foreign buyers of property in Montreal in the first half of this year when compared with the same period in 2016, helping to ensure that the most populous municipality in Quebec is now home to Canada’s hottest property market.

With the residential property markets in Vancouver and Toronto starting to run out of steam, a growing number of property investors are turning their attention to Montreal where home prices appear to offer solid room for growth.

However, despite the sharp rise in overseas nationals buying property in the region, the latest data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) shows that there were actually only 425 foreign buyers in H1 2017, which accounted for just 1.3% of all property transactions during that period.

The corresponding period last year saw 330 property transactions with foreign buyers in Montreal, or 1% of total sales.

Part of the reason why more foreign property investors, especially from China, are now buying property in Montreal, rather than Toronto and Vancouver, is because they want to avoid the 15% tax charged in the latter two destinations, according to the CMHC.

“The investor profile has changed a bit,” said Francis Cortellino of the CMHC. “There are more investors from China, where it used to be dominated by France and the United States.”