October Sales: Volume, Prices Up, Markups Down

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Volume was up, prices were good but markups were down in Westmount’s real estate market last month. Even with an average price of $1,334,077, there are still plenty of buyers ready to purchase Westmount properties, it seems, and at least two were willing to offer more than $2 million. The high prices have meant this year’s volume is down considerably, but 13 sales in October is close to the monthly average and represents the best monthly volume since April.

Four of the October sales were for properties which had been on the market 150 days or more, a fact which might have helped reduce the adjusted average markup (over 2007 valuations) to 20 percent, down from 32 percent in September. This brings the average Westmount home’s value down to about $1,245,000, still out of reach for most Montreal buyers but certainly there are enough to fuel the local market. Agents still complain there is not enough supply on the market, especially in the lower and mid-range houses, and new listings are being picked up right away, but the pressure does not appear to be driving prices up — yet.

Perhaps more significant is the fact that seven of 13 single-family sales were for less than the new 2011 municipal evaluations, an indication there might be a large number of contestations of the new valuation roll. Overall the October sales were some 7.3 percent higher than the new valuations, the biggest markup was 63 percent and the biggest markdown was 28 percent. Lowest price for a house was $650,000 and the top price was $3,500,000.

Only one condominium sale was posted for October, compared with four in September, but prices are climbing slowly in that category.as they have been since the beginning of 2009. The “typical” Westmount condo is now worth about $700,000, a value which has doubled in the past eight years. Two co-operative apartments, one in a duplex and another at Westmount Square, also sold in October.

In adjacent-Westmount, the south section of Côte des Neiges was quite busy with three new sales, with prices ranging from $650,000 to $920,000; both eastern Notre Dame de Grâce and the Trafalgar-Daulac district had one house sale each. Markups were down slightly from earlier this year, but indicate a general improvement since last year in all sectors.

Posted by andy Posted in: Monthly Analysis No Comments » October 2010