Mission

UDI: Envisioning the city of the future

Founded in 1987, the Urban Development Institute of Quebec (UDI) is an independent non-profit organization. UDI is Quebec’s largest commercial real estate representative. We partner with industry members, public authorities, and all stakeholders in the commercial real estate ecosystem.

UDI brings together major institutional owners, leading real estate developers and managers, as well as industry professionals.

UDI's mission is to contribute to building and adapting our cities by stimulating reflection, cooperation, and a strong relationship between the real estate industry and its ecosystem, thus facilitating the development of structuring and responsible real estate projects that shape the urban landscapes of tomorrow.

UDI is pursuing five key objectives : 

Represent the commercial real estate industry and ensure its outreach;
Act as the industry’s primary interlocutor with municipalities, federal and provincial governments, interested groups on urban development;
Develop and communicate content concerning real estate and the urban fabric;
Offer its members conferences, exchange opportunities and business meetings;
Encourage and support the next generation of commercial real estate professionals through the activities of the Young Ambassadors Network and the mentorship program, in order to foster the development of young talent and offer them opportunities for growth and leadership.

UDI'S MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS

At UDI, we work every day to make the voice of commercial real estate and urban development stakeholders heard by the federal and provincial governments, as well as by various municipal authorities. Thanks to the strong engagement of our members and our rigorous approach, we achieve concrete results that positively shape the future of our cities.

Here are some of the IDU's main achievements - progress that testifies to the impact of our action and the strength of our network :

Governments of Canada and Québec

Exemption from GST for construction of rental units
Power to regulate the use of development charges to prevent abuses (Bill 39)
Limiting the referendum process, commonly known as municipal superpowers (Bill 31)

City of Montreal

Postponement of the review of the By-law for a Diverse Metropolis

Quebec City

Obtaining a tax credit for developers of apartment buildings to partially cover the cost of infrastructure in certain sectors to be redeveloped ($65 million over 10 years)
Abolition of minimum parking standards - a historic demand of the UDI in Quebec City - in a buffer zone covering 400 meters buffer zone on either side of the city's main thoroughfares
Adoption by the City of an accelerated implementation plan for the housing plan containing a desire to increase zoning to increase the number of housing units on certain high-potential sites
Absence of royalties on the TramCité.

Ville de Laval, Ville de Saguenay and Ville de Repentigny

Guichet for major real estate projects

Ville de Lévis

Cancellation of the surcharge on vacant land

THE QUEBEC REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY

The commercial real estate industry contributes more than $20 billion annually to Quebec’s GDP. With combined expenditures of more than $24.5 billion, it supports nearly a hundred thousand jobs.

For the seven largest cities of Montreal, Quebec City, Drummondville, Gatineau, Saguenay, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières, more than $2.5 billion in property tax revenue comes from commercial real estate. This is on average almost half (45.8%) of their total property tax revenues.

For the Montréal CMA alone, the commercial real estate industry contributes 53.7% of property taxes, with an annual amount exceeding $1.7 billion. The economic impact of the industry is over $10.9 billion and it generates more than 62,000 jobs per year.

For the Capitale-Nationale CMA, the industry generated $1.960 billion in added value and helped support nearly 12,000 jobs. It raised over $400 million in property taxes, nearly 40% of the city’s property income.

For their part, governments benefit from the activities of this industry, while Quebec receives $1.8 billion in tax and incidental revenues and Ottawa, nearly $700 million.¹

¹ Study of the economic and fiscal benefits of commercial real estate in Quebec, Institut de développement urbain du Québec, November 2024.