If you’re thinking about a career in real estate in Montreal, or you’re already a courtier trying to figure out why your income isn’t where you want it to be, you need real numbers — not the fantasy figures that get thrown around on social media.
This article gives you an honest picture of what real estate brokers actually earn in Montreal, what drives the variation, and what you can do to move your income higher. We’ll talk about the commission structure in Quebec, the hidden costs, and the factors that separate agents who earn $40,000 a year from the ones earning $200,000+.
Before we talk about income, you need to understand how commissions flow in Quebec.
When a property sells, the total commission paid by the seller is typically 4-6% of the sale price, split between the listing broker and the buyer’s broker. In practice, most residential commissions in the Montreal area run around 5% — so on a $600,000 property, the total commission pool is approximately $30,000, split $15,000 to each side.
That $15,000 doesn’t go entirely to the courtier who represented the buyer or seller. It flows through the brokerage first. The brokerage takes its cut, and the courtier receives their portion based on their split arrangement.
Example at a traditional brokerage:
Example on a team (team-generated lead):
At first glance the team split looks worse. But the team also provided the lead, the CRM, the marketing, and the support — so the courtier didn’t spend money and time generating that business. The question is always: how many transactions can you realistically close each year in each scenario? More on that below.
These are real-world ranges for Montreal and the Greater Montreal area, not industry association talking points.
Most newly licensed courtiers in their first year, operating solo, close between 0 and 8 transactions. The average is probably 3-5 if they’re working reasonably hard. At an average net commission of $9,000-$12,000 per transaction after brokerage fees:
After business costs (we’ll get to those), many first-year solo agents take home less than $40,000. Some make nothing at all. The failure rate in the first two years is significant — estimates put it at 50-70% of new agents exiting the industry.
A new courtier on a good team with proper lead generation and training can realistically close 10-15 transactions in their first year. The split is lower, but the volume is significantly higher.
At a 60% split and $12,000 average commission per transaction:
After personal costs (lower on a team since many overhead items are covered), this is a substantially better first-year outcome for most people.
Agents who survive year one and build their referral base start to see real momentum. Volumes of 15-25 transactions per year become achievable. Income in this range — solo or team — typically runs:
These are gross commission figures before personal business costs.
Experienced agents who’ve built a strong referral base and sphere of influence can close 25-50+ transactions per year. The top performers in the Montreal market — including team leaders and agents running focused geographic or niche practices — can produce $300,000-$600,000+ in gross commissions annually.
This is a small percentage of the total licensed courtier population in Quebec. Most working agents, even experienced ones, are in the $80,000-$200,000 gross range.
Why does one courtier make $60,000 a year and another makes $300,000? It comes down to a few key drivers.
We’ve touched on this, but it’s worth being direct: for most agents — especially in their first five years — a good team produces more income than going solo, even with a lower split. The reason is simple: volume beats split percentage when the team provides a functional lead system.
A 50% split on 25 transactions pays more than an 85% split on 8 transactions. Every time.
The math only favours going solo once you have a large, self-sustaining referral network that generates consistent volume without paid lead generation. Most agents reach that point eventually — if they survive long enough to build it. Being on a team accelerates that timeline significantly.
The single biggest variable in a Montreal real estate career is lead generation. If you’re not consistently generating new client opportunities, you will plateau — or fail. Period.
Solo agents spend 15-30% of their gross income on marketing and lead generation. Some spend more. Database marketing, online advertising, door knocking, sphere cultivation, expired listings, open houses — all of it takes time and money. For many solo agents, lead generation is a full-time job on top of the client work.
Agents on teams with functioning lead gen programs free up that time and money. They’re not running Facebook ads or mailing postcards hoping something converts. They’re working leads that are already in the CRM.
Montreal is not a homogeneous market. The West Island, Laval, the Plateau, NDG, South Shore, Longueuil — these markets have different price points, different buyer and seller profiles, and different levels of competition.
Working in a higher-price-point market means more commission per transaction for the same amount of work. Agents who establish themselves in Westmount, TMR, or the luxury end of the West Island market are working toward transactions that generate $20,000-$40,000+ in commission per deal. The same time and effort in a lower-price-point market generates $8,000-$12,000.
This doesn’t mean you should chase the luxury market without the experience or network to compete in it — that’s a recipe for zero volume. But price point matters, and being intentional about the market you develop matters.
Listing-focused agents make more money with less time spent, full stop. A listing agent who’s good at the job can service multiple listings simultaneously. A buyer’s agent can generally work with two to four active buyers at once before service quality drops.
More importantly, listings generate inbound leads from sign calls, open house traffic, and online enquiries. Good listings create a marketing ecosystem that compounds over time.
Getting to a point where you’re listing-heavy requires building a seller-focused reputation, which takes time and a geographic farm strategy. But if you’re a newer agent or an agent trying to scale, being intentional about developing listing business will pay off significantly faster than being primarily a buyer’s agent.
Gross commissions are not your income. Here are the costs that most discussions of real estate income gloss over.
Every courtier in Quebec pays annual dues to OACIQ and must complete continuing education to maintain their licence. OACIQ dues run approximately $800-$1,000+ per year. Add the cost of CE courses, and you’re at $1,000-$1,500 annually just to maintain your licence.
E&O insurance is mandatory in Quebec for all real estate brokers. Rates vary but typically run $1,500-$3,000+ per year depending on your transaction volume and brokerage arrangement.
Most active courtiers in Montreal are members of CIGM (Chambre immobilière du Grand Montréal), which provides access to Centris (Quebec’s MLS equivalent). Membership fees run approximately $1,500-$2,000 per year.
If you’re running your own marketing — website, CRM, advertising, email platform, social media tools, photography, staging for listings — you can easily spend $5,000-$20,000 per year depending on how aggressively you invest.
On a team, many of these costs are absorbed by the team infrastructure. This is a real financial benefit that gets underweighted in the split conversation.
Real estate in Montreal means driving. A lot. Between property showings, client meetings, listing appointments, and office trips, agents can easily put 20,000-40,000+ kilometres on their vehicle annually. Budget $5,000-$10,000+ per year for vehicle costs, including insurance that covers business use.
A working solo agent in Montreal should budget approximately $20,000-$35,000 per year in business costs. This is the number you need to subtract from gross commissions to get to something resembling actual income — before personal income tax.
Team agents typically run much lower business costs because the team absorbs lead gen, CRM, and marketing expenses. Realistic personal business costs on a good team might run $8,000-$15,000 per year.
If you’re trying to move your income higher, here are the levers that actually matter.
If you’re below 20 transactions per year and you’re working solo, a team with a functioning lead gen system is almost certainly your fastest path to higher income. The math is straightforward. Don’t let the split percentage distract you from the volume equation.
Develop a listing-focused practice. Pick a geographic area — a neighbourhood, a corridor, a price band — and go deep. Send direct mail, do door knocking, build your presence on Centris with quality listings. Listings create more listings. Buyer representation is important, but listing-heavy agents consistently out-earn buyer-heavy agents.
The agents who build durable, long-term income in Montreal are almost always associated with a specific area in the eyes of their community. Pointe-Claire, Beaconsfield, Dorval, Pierrefonds, LaSalle — whatever your market, own a piece of it. Show up consistently, market consistently, and over three to five years you’ll have a pipeline that doesn’t depend on spending money to generate leads.
Your past clients and sphere of influence are your most valuable asset. An agent with 200 people in a well-maintained database who communicates consistently will generate a meaningful volume of referral business every year — for free. Most agents underinvest radically in this.
If you’re at eXp or considering it, revenue share is a real income multiplier over a five-to-ten year horizon. Agents who are intentional about sponsoring quality people into the brokerage can build meaningful passive income that provides a floor under their transaction-based income. It’s not a replacement strategy — it’s additive.
Real estate income in Montreal can be exceptional — but it’s not guaranteed, and it’s not passive. The agents who do well here work hard, work smart, have systems, and have business flowing into their pipeline consistently.
If you’re trying to figure out how to build a real estate career in Montreal that generates serious income, the fastest path for most people is joining a team with genuine lead generation, real training, and accountability — and then building your referral base while the team leads provide volume.
If you want to understand what that looks like in practice, explore what we offer at Elite Real Estate Group. We’re direct about what you’ll earn, what you’ll need to do to earn it, and what we provide to help you get there.