Statistical reality

Not just Pierrefonds and the St. Lazare/Vaudreuil-Dorion area, but Ile Perrot, Notre Dame de l’Ile Perrot and Pincourt all had appreciable increases in their populations. Pointe Claire’s population jumped three per cent, while Dorval, Baie d’Urfé and Ste. Anne de Bellevue all had increases higher than two per cent.

The off-island area, though, jumped markedly — a hardy 19.2-per-cent increase since 2001 — and some feel it’s only just beginning. Major retailers seem to agree. Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Loblaws have all opened big stores in Vaudreuil-Dorion — the geographical centre of the region — in recent years, and more homes are being snapped up every day. Young families, above all, English and French, are choosing less-expensive homes in Notre Dame de l’Ile Perrot, Pincourt and Vaudreuil-Dorion, while St. Lazare is home to a privately financed hockey rink and indoor soccer pitch.

Families are driving the economy and the development, and it’s become clear that today’s generation of parents are less about the prestige of owning a home on Montreal Island and more about the quality of life available for thousands less in an area a 15 or 20 minute highway drive away. It’s quality of life and security above cachet and image: a sign that the young investors buying up homes in the off-island are more and more like their grandparents than their parents were.