Mauricie Region

[Jeffery Zhang]

I've been looking at prices and rents on realtor.ca and kijiji. The price/rent ratio near Montreal (where I live) is absolutely terrible. Revenue/price are <7% and once you subtract expenses you end up with cap rates in the 3-4% range.

So I look around the surrounding regions. Trois-rivieres/Shawinigian in the Mauricie region have around 150k population and their price/rent ratios are a world of difference. Revenue/price ratios of 10-12% are not uncommon. I'm wondering if the region is economically depressed or something. I understand that rents are significantly lower, 3 bedrooms seem to rent for around 500-600. But even so, with 4-plex 3 Br selling for 150-200k, there is a lot of room for vacancy and expenses. Are houses in these regions hard to finance? I'm trying to understand, what is the problem here?