When your apartment starts running short on bedrooms, a new semi-detached home near Montreal becomes worth considering, with something the city rarely offers: a yard that's yours alone. This article is for families looking for a house with a backyard near Montreal who wonder what they would actually find there, room by room and square foot by square foot.

The starting point is the 2021 Census data on dwellings in the City of Montreal; the destination is BÉAcité's semi-detached homes in the Vilamo neighbourhood of Sainte-Julie. Neither is better than the other in absolute terms: it all depends on what your family needs from its home, today and ten years from now.

On the island, houses are the exception

Apartments make up about 86% of dwellings in the City of Montreal. In detail:

56.9% of dwellings are apartments in buildings of fewer than five storeys, 16.0% in buildings of five storeys or more, and 13.2% are apartments in a duplex;
houses account for just 13.5% of the stock: 7.1% detached, 3.2% semi-detached and 3.2% row houses;
in Sainte-Julie, by comparison, houses dominate, at 73.6% of dwellings.

That kind of city has its strengths: shops within walking distance, the metro, neighbourhood parks. But it leaves little room for private yards, and that absence is often what leads a family to look further afield.

Bedrooms in short supply

The census also measures the size of dwellings. In Montreal, 33.5% have no bedroom or just one, and 7.9% have four or more, compared with 33.7% in Sainte-Julie. Under the national occupancy standard, which compares the number of bedrooms with the makeup of the household, 8.6% of Montreal households live in housing that isn't suitable in size; in Sainte-Julie, the share drops to 1.4%.

The Institut de la statistique du Québec also notes that among 25- to 29-year-olds, an age when many start a family, Montreal and Laval record the heaviest migration losses in Quebec. People aged 25 to 44 make up 32.0% of the City's population, compared with 21.3% in Sainte-Julie, and couples with children represent 20.0% of Montreal households, versus 33.3% in Sainte-Julie.

A house with a backyard near Montreal: what does BÉAcité plan outdoors?

At BÉAcité, the outdoors comes finished. Grading and complete landscaping are part of the purchase, then an all-inclusive maintenance program takes over. For a family, that means:

a garden-level backyard and a private garden, away from the street;
several lots with no neighbour behind, a detail worth asking about when you choose your lot;
the possibility of adding a pool and a spa, and an optional rooftop terrace;
a single garage and a double driveway, for bikes, the stroller and the car.

Vilamo's architectural standards guide the look of the neighbourhood, and its dense landscaping preserves privacy between neighbours. In the photos of the home at 423 Geoffrion Street, the dining room opens onto the backyard through a patio door.

More rooms, from the basement up

Inside, the three models change the scale of everyday life:

the Duo cottage offers 2,018 sq ft of living space, with 858 sq ft on the ground floor and 1,160 sq ft upstairs, plus an 858 sq ft basement and a 292 sq ft garage;
the semi-detached bungalow puts everything on a 1,006 sq ft ground floor, above a basement of the same size;
the Urbain model totals 1,622 sq ft of living space on two levels, with a 652 sq ft basement.

Among the homes already built, 405 Geoffrion Street has three bedrooms, a mezzanine and a rooftop terrace, and 423 is a three-bedroom Duo home with a finished basement. Nine-foot ceilings on the ground floor and large windows in every room let the light in. If one parent works from home, our article on the house with a home office near Montreal shows how to set a room aside for work.

Family life in Vilamo

Leaving a neighbourhood where everything is within walking distance is often a worry. Vilamo was designed to keep some of that: a commercial strip within walking distance, with medical services, a pharmacy, a public market, restaurants and a Caisse Desjardins; a promenade reserved for pedestrians, bikes and electric mobility; and 600,000 sq ft of green space. The site plan for BÉAcité's 50 lots also includes two parks and a retention pond.

In Sainte-Julie, local buses are free, and every home in Vilamo is less than 300 m from a stop. The city's walking and cycling network exceeds 40 km, and a BIXI station has opened at Parc Arthur-Gauthier. Public schools fall under the Centre de services scolaire des Patriotes: check with it about the school for your future area. For outings, Mont-Saint-Bruno National Park is next door, and Ski Saint-Bruno is 8.8 km from Geoffrion Street.

What the family leaves behind

A house with a backyard near Montreal comes at the cost of more driving. In Sainte-Julie, nine commuters in ten drive to work, and no bus connects the city directly to the island. To see grandparents, friends or activities left behind in Montreal, allow about 34 minutes to downtown without traffic, or about 21 minutes to Radisson metro through the bridge-tunnel, under repair until 2027. Routes and schedules are gathered in our guide to getting from Montreal to Sainte-Julie.

Children's activities need some thought too: lessons, school friends and neighbourhood habits have to be rebuilt. A family visit on a Saturday or Sunday, booked ahead, lets you see the area through their eyes.

Conclusion

Moving from an apartment to a house with a backyard near Montreal means gaining bedrooms, a basement, a garage and a green corner of your own, in exchange for longer trips and a car that's close to essential. BÉAcité makes that move easier with outdoor space landscaped on delivery, then maintained under an all-inclusive program. The sales office at 435 Geoffrion Street welcomes you on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and by appointment in the evening or on Saturday or Sunday: come as a family, and judge for yourselves.

From an apartment to a house with a backyard near Montreal